Twilight
by Rave Drifter
Summary: [Sequel to Prophesy]In a world that has changed, there is only one thought: Getting home. But can they in this madness?
1. Default Chapter

Standard Legal Stuff: I don't own anything. If you sue me you will only get my psychotic cat!

Twilight by Rave Drifter

Prologue:

To: Kyle Light, Head HOENN, Intelligence Organization H.I.O.

From: Commander Towns, Moss Deep Naval Base

Security Level 5. Warning: Unauthorized view of this document will result in severe penalties. 15.07.2052.

Colonel, it's been three months since the release of the unknown bio-weapon now classified as Star Dust.

As you have been kept informed by intelligence and the news, the virus is a unique mutagen or class 7. In other words its attacks on a DNA level. You are probably well aware of the effects on humans and Pokemon alike. The hybridization of anyone infected by Star Dust.

Three months ago we managed to take into custody several suspects found at ground zero. After intensive interrogation it was determined that they were not members of any organization, government funded or terrorist. However, since they are the only witnesses under your previous order we continue to detain them until further notice.

From what we have documented from these individuals Star Dust was the work of a lone individual: Dr. Justin Edward Bailey. Current whereabouts are unknown. Apparently, a child prodigy in the field of bioengineering and medicine, he fought in the second Korean War (see file 309). The war caused massive physical and mental trauma. This compounded with the suspicious death of his parents (see file 511), led to total distaste in humanity as it existed before. In order to create Star Dust he joined an American Based Terrorist Organization known only as Team Tech. Apparently, he promised them bio-weapons of unimaginable power. After redirecting funds and equipment from Team Tech he disappeared.

As you now are aware he reappeared engineering the Mist Island Star Dust incident. Using missiles which he stole from our own Navy, he managed to launch this virus high enough into the atmosphere to ensure global coverage. He then tried to self-destruct his lab on Mist Island. However, for reasons still unknown this did not occur. From what we were able to gather from documents found there, the virus is incurable. As part of the transformation process the DNA of the human genes remain slightly unstable. Any attempt to make it dominate or eliminate the Pokemon DNA will result in instant organ failure.

This information has been leaked to the media. Since the global public now realizes that the virus is incurable there have been massive riots and unrest in nearly every country. Information is still sparce, however, the few countries we have been in contact with are now taking extreme measures.

China, for example, is military blockading its borders and every major urban area to prevent the infection from reaching vital free trade zones. Singapore has closed all bridges, ferries, and airports in and out of their island nation. Any further information is pure speculation since they have initiated a total news blackout.

The United States has instituted emergency military rule. Using the same tactics as China, they have blockaded their borders and urban centers. However, recent information suggests that they are only quarantining their costal cities, both in order to keep trade within moving and because of the mere dynamics of enforcing such restraints on such a vast amount of land.

Information has led us to believe, that nearly every country is enforcing some sort of quarantine protocol to prevent infected Pokemon from crossing their borders.

Finally, it has come to our attention that Team Rocket and Team Tech are taking advantage of this chaos. Information again is sketchy, but from what were able to ascertain they are in complete war for control of the global underworld.

All of the above information comes directly from an informant, the last surviving member of the organization known as Team Flora. According to his accounts just a few weeks ago Team Tech launched an all out attack on Team Flora's headquarters in Barcelona. The local government declared that it was another riot, however nothing should be left to chance at this time.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that there have been recent attacks against hybrid citizens within our own borders as well as in several other countries by a group called Green Earth. The motives are to preserve what is left of the human species by wiping out every hybrid they can find. All other information on location, strength, and tactics are unknown at this time.

In conclusion, we know that the virus has finally run its course and about 70 of the world's population has been affected. Until further notice and until more intelligence is gathered, I recommend to the government that we continue martial law and closed borders. Only exceptions will be for stranded travelers and trainers. It is my opinion it is necessary for them to be in their homelands in this time of crisis.

End of Transmission: Fredrick Towns, Moss Deep Space Center/Naval Base

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Rave Drifter


	2. 2

Chapter 2:

Moss Deep--3 months after Star Dust.

We open up our scene to see the interior of a large building, the floor covered with a thin layer of dust. Despite the fact that this location was deserted, all the vegetation (house type plants) were still alive and thriving thanks to the fact that the modified sprinkler system was still operational.

There were voices outside the entrance. "Well here it is--my lab, it's going to be a little gringy so watch where you step." The door opened up and Morris walked in and immediately went into a sneezing fit.

"Dammit, the auto vacuum must have broken down again. Hope no one looted this place." The rest of the gang followed Morris in.

Max said, "No offence but this place stinks."

Morris replied, "It's probably because your nose is so sensitive now."

May added, "All this dust is making my fur itch."

"It could be worse, we could still be confined to that military base. At least here no one will be poking you with a dozen needles a day." said Morris.

Ash grimaced and said, "Don't remind me. Does this place even have power?"

May joked, "If not you could just stick your hand in the fuse box and let it rip."

Morris said, "That won't be necessary. This place is self-contained. The roof is lined with solar panels and you must have noticed the big windmill out back. Every thing is routed to a big capacitor. Initially expensive but sure bets paying those ridiculous power bills everyone is now charged--Glitch turn her on!"

The whole house suddenly light up and there was the humming of computers, lights, and equipment powering up.

"There we go." stated Morris. "I'm going to go to see if there is anything left to eat that hasn't spoiled. In case you are wondering, upstairs is the bedrooms, about four of them and two bathrooms. Down here is the lab, kitchen, and the living room. In the basement is storage and the capacitor. Please don't go down there as I don't want a power outage." Morris and Glitch then made their way to the kitchen area.

Brock glanced around and said, "Well this place is definitely a nice change."

Ash said, "I don't know about you guys, but I want to contact home." He picked up the nearest phone mounted on the wall and tried a number. "Beep--Beep--Beep, We're sorry all communication satellites are either busy or down. Please try your call again later. Thank you for using Pioneer Communications. Asia's number 1 communication service since 2012." Ash replaced the phone. "No good, everything is busy."

Max added, "No doubt. The world has practically gone to hell."

May looked at Max and said, "Were did you learn that kind of language?"

Morris kept muttering under his breath, "While we were still locked up you silly cat."

May heard that and holding out her claws said, "You want some of this?"

Brock got between them and said, "What just a minute, we don't want anyone gouging each others eyes out. I think we are all just tired."

May said, "Your right. Those prison cots were as hard as rocks. I'm going to see if the shower is running. All this fur is going to be a pain in the ass to clean and dry."

As she went upstairs Morris came back and said, "Good news, I still have a crate of instant Ramen that hasn't gone bad."

Ash said, "I doubt with so many preservatives that stuff could ever go bad."

Glitch said, "You don't know Morris' cooking very well do you?"

Morris replied, "Shut up you! I'm surprised you haven't started driven me to habits such as smoking with your comments and interference."

Glitch smugly said, "I always try."

Morris chuckled and said, "Your Impossible! Food should be ready in a minute. Go ahead and make yourselves at home."

Glitch questioned, "Does that mean they can run around here in underwear and slippers?"

Morris walked off to the kitchen muttering something under his breath about whether he should crash his system with a huge magnet.

About a minute later Glitch led Max, Brock and Ash into the living room. There was a terrarium, a huge overstuffed couch, and a entertainment center with every piece of electric equipment under the sun, even stuff that was obsolete decades ago, even a reel to reel tape recorder.

Max on seeing the layout simply said, "Whoa. Look at this stuff. I mean some of this is like a hundred years old."

Glitch sighed and said, "I know, I know, I keep telling him to throw out some of this crap. I mean we're in the middle of the 2050's and he still has a 1950 tape reel deck and an old vinyl record player from 1965. He says I have no sense of nostalgia".

Brock replied, "It's kind of neat actually. They say you can learn a lot from history."

Ash meanwhile was fiddling around with a remote. "How does this damm thing work?"

Glitch laughed and said, "Even Morris can't figure that out. Lucky for him I can operated any electrical equipment."

Instantly the T.V. turned on showing a still human reporter. "This Lyle Nelson reporting live for INN in San Francisco where moments ago, just after emergency military rule ended members of the organization Green Earth took numerous hostages inside the Transamerica Building. Green Earth is demanding the immediate deportation of all hybrids within U.S. borders. If demands are not met they will bring the building down. Hostages who managed to escape in the initial melee say that most charges are planted in the lower levels on support beams. With us now is Lieutenant Morgan of the California National Guard.

"Lieutenant, what can you tell us about the situation?"

"From what we have been able to gather, there are about 20 hostages, ten human and ten hybrid being held by 30 armed members of Green Earth. They are armed with Uzi's and cheap .22's. We also know that the building has been wired with enough explosives to bring it down and cause considerable collateral damage."

Suddenly there was a roaring noise and the reported yelled, "What's That!" The camera panned upward to the sky to show a single F-117 drop what looked like a small explosive device on the roof of the building.

Following was a bright blue flash and the T.V. screen became fuzzy and blurred. A voice yelled, "EMP bomb successful, scans revealed that all explosives have been disarmed. All teams advance. Leave no member of Green Earth alive!"

Suddenly the reported said, "Wait a second, what the-----"

Another voice screamed, "Shut the camera off--shut the damm thing off!"

The T.V. screen went black--then showed a new room with still another human reporter. "We seem to have lost contact with our reporter in San Francisco. We'll try to get back to him when the situation stabilizes. In other news…" Then the T.V. went off.

Everyone turned to see Morris holding the remote. "Despite what Glitch says, I can operate a T.V." Ignoring what had occurred just then he simply stated, "Dinner is Ready."

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Next: Chaos Theory.

Rave Drifter


	3. 3

Chapter 2: "It means that everything that can go wrong will" (Jurassic Park)

About a week later, Ash was sitting on one of the beaches of Moss Deep Island. The past week had been disturbing and weird to say the least. He stopped watching T.V. about a day ago. Nothing on the news but stuff about Green Earth, insane inflation, and debates on whether to shut down the leagues for good.

Morris was still trying to do whatever it takes to get them all back to the mainland. The few ferry's that were running were now charging $300 per person, plus all other civilian ships were still being held in dock. Morris was literally calling everyone that he knew. Several friends said they would get back to him but it was doubtful.

It was easy to know where Max was. He was constantly busy fussing around Morris' lab, most likely out of fascination.

All that May ever did was eat, sleep and fuss over what clothes wouldn't clash with her new tan and purple fur.

Both Ash and Morris agreed that she was slowly going off the deep end. Unfortunately she heard them discussing her mental health and they ended up with deep claw marks.

Brock was making due cooking what little food they currently had. Yesterday he went shopping and he returned so angry that even May was frightened.

Ash couldn't blame him $7.50 for a jar of peanut butter, $20 for a pound of chicken. Even a simple box of lemon heads cost $3. At this rate Ash wouldn't be surprised if starvation was not becoming a realistic problem. He recalled Torkoal, at least training seemed to take some of the edge off, but he couldn't help wonder if everyone at home was o.k. Each night he tried to call but the lines were all busy.

A few days ago out of curiosity he remembered the time he took down Bailey's robot with an electric attack and wondered if he could do it again. The problem was so much generating the electricity but discharging it. It literally felt like someone stabbed him with a knife. He asked Glitch about this since Morris was always so busy with all the current problems. Glitch said that the problem might lie in the fact that his body hadn't fully adapted to its change yet. Either that or maybe he was too young to handle such power.

Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes. Both Ash and Pikachu heard it at the same time. Ash yelled out, "Who's there!"

Out of the bushes stumbled a Electabuzz hybrid covered with almost a dozen different gashes and what looked like bullet holes. He lumbered down the hill to the beach and was dead before he hit the sand.

This literally freaked Ash out. What was even more disturbing was the person who stepped out of the bushes next--an ordinary human--dressed for the warm climate of the island in dark yellow shorts and a tee shirt. What was worse was that his clothes were caked in blood. He was also holding a knife dripping red.

The stranger said, "About time that demon dropped dead. Surprised it lasted so long. I had to stab it about 12 times, and I wasted a whole clip of .45 on it." He then glanced at Ash and said, "Hmmm another one."

He wiped the knife on his shirt and said, "Looks like it's a two for one special."

Ash began to back away, this guy was obviously crazy. Ash nervously blurted out, "Who are you Green Earth?"

The guy cracked up laughing. "I would join if I could, but like most people here I'm trapped on this damm island." He then took a cross from his shirt and began rubbing it. "God has punished you all--all who have sinned have been turned into demons that must be exterminated." He then dropped the cross onto the sand and charged at him at full speed.

Ash managed to dodge the first charge and yelled, "Pikachu: Thunder Bolt!"

Pikachu shocked the crazed man, but he shrugged it off as if it was nothing.

The man laughed again and said, "Is that all you have? That other hybrid that I disposed of shocked me much worse than that." He then took out a great ball and enlarged it. "If that's the way you want to play fine, I need the practice anyway." The ball opened revealing a Pokemon that Ash had never seen before.

He took out the Pokedex and it reported, "Masquerain, the eye bug Pokemon, they love to live in damp warm places. The eye ball pattern on its wings are to scare off predators, and it's of an unusual bug flying type. Trainer level 30."

The man smiled and said, "Masquerain aerial ace--I want to see some blood. Aim for the eyes."

The eye bug quickly charged at an insane speed. Pikachu was able to dodge just barely.

Ash yelled, "Pikachu--zap cannon." The attack hit Masquerain dead on. Last time Ash checked Pikachu was at level 60 so the bug did not stand a chance. The crazed man recalled Masquerain and whipped out a giant Australian bowie knife and once again charged Ash.

Ash yelled, "Pikachu: Iron Tail." Pikachu's Iron Tail smacked the man directly in the face. The man stopped holding his hand dripping in blood over his eye. He started to scream, "My eye--I'm blind!"

Ash took this opportunity to run. The crazy man was now in hot pursuit, half blind and whipping his knife into the air. Ash came to the part of the island where Moss Deep City was located. He ran past a military M.P., then a second later the crazed man ran by screaming, "Come back here you demon." The M.P. quickly tackled the man, but the man trusted his knife upward nearly impaling the M.P. The M.P. then removed his gun and fired off three rounds directly into the man killing him with the first round. He then got up with a huge gash from his neck to his shoulder, a few inches to the left and the man would have severed his carotid. The M.P. stumbled up to Ash and Pikachu who were lying on the pavement exhausted. Before he could say anything Ash managed to say, "The beach…" then he passed out.

An hour later Morris heard a knock on the door. He mumbled as he got up from his computer, "I just spent all week on this things trying to secure passage to the mainland. I finally manage to get something arranged and someone disturbs me in my moment of triumph." He then yelled, "Brock will you get the door, I'm exhausted."

Brock opened the door to see a human military soldier holding a rather beat up Ash and Pikachu was at the soldier's side looking very worried. Brock said, "What the hell happened?" Upon hearing this Max, May and Morris appeared out nowhere. They were just as shocked as Brock by Ash's appearance.

The soldier spoke in almost a robotic voice, "Green Earth supporter tried to gut him. He was lucky to get away. Same guy has already killed about 4 others. Used to be a reverend in the city's church. Went crazy during star dust. He's dead now in case your wondering."

Everyone just stared at him, wondering especially how he could report such things in such a dead voice.

"I recommend that he and his Pikachu rest and get plenty of fluids. He ran the entire length of the island and in this heat I'm surprised he didn't have stroke, with all that fur." He then placed Ash on the floor, pivoted and simply walked out of the house.

May yelled, "Wait a minute!"

The soldier responded without turning, "I said the man responsible is dead. If you have any further questions, please contact the space center naval base." He then hopped into an old issue military jeep and drove off.

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Next Chapter: Mainland

Rave Drifter


	4. 4

Chapter 3

A few days later, we find the gang on a boat heading to the mainland. One of Morris' contacts finally managed to come through, but it wasn't easy. The man now processed what little cash they had left plus he seemed paranoid about everything. Even though the virus had long since dissipated he still insisted on wearing a gas mask. He also had an insane nervous twitch as if on caffeine overload.

Finally the boat pulled up to a beach just on the outside of a LilyCove City. The nervous guy said,  
"This is as far as I can go man. We're not even suppose to be out on the water. Are you sure this is all your money?"

Morris looked at him and said, "Yes for the twentieth time. And take off that gas mask. The virus is gone."

Instead the man just ran to the boats bridge and gunned the motor and took off at a dangerous speed.

Max said, "Well that was sure interesting."

"Interesting?" said May. "That guy was crazy. He said if we came within three feet of him he would blow our heads off."

Morris replied, "Josh has always been a conspiracy nut. Something like this I can imagine would snap his mind."

They began walking south towards the city. Everyone was being unnaturally quiet. The attack on Ash a few days ago was still fresh in their heads. When they arrived in the city about 30 minutes later the city was almost surreal. Through the darkness they could see that power was to only half the city. The streets normally bustling with night life were empty.

Ash said, "This place is giving me the creeps."

Brock stated, "Where is everyone?"

Morris replied, "Probably scared to death of Green Earth." He then pointed to a billboard post, it was covered with both Green Earth and Opposition Posters posted over each other. Suddenly a vehicle pulled up out of the darkness. Out stepped two figures: A military M.P. and a Ninetails hybrid in a police uniform.

The hybrid shouted, "Hey, what are you doing out, you know there is a curfew?"

Max replied, "Curfew? What do you mean?"

The M.P. stated, "Due to increased activities by Green Earth and their supporters, LilyCove City has a curfew that lasts from sundown to sunup." He then held out his hand. "Pay Up." This certainly got everyone's attention.

Brock asked, "What is this a fine?"

The Ninetails police officer nodded his head, "Yep, five hundred from each of you now."

May said, "Uhhh--I think that's going to be a problem. We kind of spent the last of our money securing transport to your city and we're just passing through. Could you--ahh--like let us off the hook just this once?"

The M.P. and the Ninetails officer shot them all an extremely dirty look. The officer stated, "So where exactly are you going."

Ash replied, "Petalburg City."

The officers relaxed a little bit, but not much "You might want to take the national transit train then. I wouldn't recommend passing though Fortree right now. You know how those people are supersticous about dark types?"

Ash remembered when he visited Fortree for a gym battle. Because he had a Crawdaunt, which was both a water and a dark type, everyone kept avoiding him and he even received several death threats. As replied, "Yes, I remember that place, Why?"

The M.P. stated, "The place has gone crazy, some of the citizens became dark type hybrids and the other citizens began killing them. Military had to evacuate all remaining dark types. And the citizens actually fought us at every turn. We lost several units during the evacuation to fanatics hiding on roofs with hunting rifles."

Brock replied astonished, "Your kidding me--didn't the police help you at all?"

The M.P. replied, "No, they're just as supersticous as their citizens. They even tried a blockade to try to stop the evacuation. It was like that Salem Witch Hunt."

Max replied, "Then I'd better stay as far away from Fortree as possible."

The Ninetails officer nodded and simply stated, "Agreed. One of my relatives who resided there became a Dark type hybrid and he was shot clear through the head by one of Fortrees police. Just a few blocks south is the train terminal. If you aren't familiar with it, the line connects Lily Cove to Fortree, Melville, Petalburg, and finally Rustboro which is the end the line. Due to a government intervention, the trains are now charging normal fees again Do any of you live in Petalburg?"

May answered, "Me and my little brother do."

The M.P. stated, "Since that is your place of origin, I think I will be able to get you passage at no charge. However, when passing through Fortree I recommend that you lock your brother in the bathroom. You don't want at lynch mob on board do you?"

Max palled as much as possible under his black fur.

Ash questioned, "So when does this train leave anyway?"

The Ninetails hybrid glanced at his cheap digital watch and said, "Thirty minutes--last train today. Take it and you will get to Petalburg by noon tomorrow. That's if the tracks are clear."

A few minutes later, the group was on the train after saying goodbye to the M.P. and officer. The train started out of the station slowly and then began to pick up speed. An old speaker blurted out in a scratchy voice: "Welcome aboard the NTS--the time is 7:30 p.m.--estimated time of arrivals are: Fortree 11 p.m., Melville/National Capitol 3:30 a.m., Petalburg 8:05 a.m., and Rustboro end of line 10:15 a.m. Thank you for using the NTS, have a same and pleasant journey."

The group glanced around the car realizing that they were the only passengers. Probably the only ones on the train due to the current curfew.

Morris sat on the couch like bench and immediately passed out from exhaustion. May did the same.

Ash said to Brock, "Is that such a good idea? We're going to be passing through Fortree in a few hours, and if they see Max we are royally screwed."

Brock said, "I don't think we need to worry about that, as soon as we got on the train he locked himself in the bathroom. He said to tell him when we pass Fortree so he can come out. We'd better stay awake until then."

Ash nodded as he sat down to watch the landscape roll by outside his window.

Meanwhile, half way across the globe, a single person was sitting in a dark office atop a skyscraper belonging to American Stars. A company that specialized in every type of electrically equipment imaginable from their first successful computer operating system that managed to eclipse Windows in popularity to military and medical equipment. Anything powered by electricity, American Stars made it. However there was a dark side to this company, it was the legal front for Team Tech, and anyone who ever made this connection vanished very quickly.

A Manectric hybrid in a business suit walked into the office. The man turned around and looked at him and said, "Report."

"Our forces have finally wiped out the last of Team Flora's resistance in Europe. The continent is ours. We also managed to almost destroy Team Aqua and Magma. Once they are gone, we will have control of Hoenn and our foothold in Asia that you requested."

The man turned around, ice blue eyes and molten copper color hair were his most distinguishing features.

"Good, it's only a matter of time now. Once our biggest rival Team Rocket is gone, we'll have complete control. Tell our men to take their time. Make sure that every bit of Aqua and Magma resistance is squashed. I've waited two decades for this, I can wait a little longer."

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Next: Petalburg and a dark tech encounter

Rave Drifter


	5. 5

Chapter 4

The train car shook violently waking Ash up with a start. He looked around and then out the window. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and it looked like the train was departing a city. The scratchy speaker blurted out, "Departing from Melville--Petalburg next. Arrival time has been modified to 8:55 a.m. Currently time 6:25 a.m. Thank you once again for using NTS for your travel needs."

Ash rubbed his eyes thinking: Damm this is the earliest I've ever woken up. He went into the train bathroom. The yellow fur on his face was an absolute mess. He patted it down with water from the faucet and groomed it with his claws. He then started to travel down through the other train cars. When he arrived at the rear car he glanced at the only other passenger in the entire train. It was a Persian hybrid wearing what appeared to be combat boots, urban camouflage pants and a gray tee shirt. He didn't even notice Ash. He was reading a travel guide book, his tail flicking back and forth like a metronome. As Ash was about to leave the car, the Persian hybrid looked up and said, "What a second. You a trainer?"

Ash looked back at him and he was now standing and brushing himself off, running his claws through his messy black hair.

"Because if you are, I would like a quick one-on-one battle if that is o.k." said the hybrid. "That is if you are getting off at Petalburg, that's where I'm going."

Ash said, "Sure, o.k., but we'd better make it quick. How about in this car since it's empty?"

The hybrid smiled wickedly and said, "A confined spaces battle--like it."

They both backed to opposite ends of the car. The Persian hybrid said, "This will be a one on one with no time limit. If you win I just might give you something valuable."

He them took out a great ball and enlarged it--Ash did also. The Persian smiled and said, "Commence operation." The ball popped open to reveal a Senasel. Ash scanned it--level 40.

Ash then let out Torkoal.

The Persian smiled and said, "Fire type--smart but we'll overcome it with speed. Senasel: Three Way!"

The Senasel began to circle around the interior of the car with insane speed. Suddenly the after images began to glow blue and chunks of ice began raining from them in every direction.

Ash quickly yelled "Tokoal Withdrawal!" Tokoal withdrew into its shell and was able to withstand most of the barrage. Ash then yelled, "What the hell was that?"

The Persian smiled and said, "Three way: A little combination of blizzard and the double team attack. Me and Senasel came up with it in our spare time. Enough talk, Senasel finish them with another three way."

This time Senasel circled the car even faster than before.

Ash quickly came up with an insane idea. He yelled "Torkoal we have to attack in all directions. Fire spin!"

The Persian stepped back and said, "Are you crazy kid you'll burn the entire car?"

Tokoal went into a fire spin and for a split second the car was turned into a oven. When the steam cleared several of the window were gone and all the cloth seats were scorched. Senasel was lying on the ground defeated. The fire spin combined with the fact that the car was well insulated increased its power.

The Persian recalled Senasel and said, "You crazy sob--I like you. Good thinking. I said you would get a valuable reward so here." He then tossed to Ash a rubber coated metal ring on a chain.

Ash looked at it and said, "How do you figure this a valuable?"

The Persian said, "Don't you recognize a magnet when you see one? Give this to an electric type and its power will be boosted roughly 10. Also take this full restore, my treat."

Ash looked at the bottle and said, "These things practically cost a fortune."

The hybrid shrugged and said, "I have plenty, don't worry. By the way if you are ever in need of employment, give me a call." He then flipped a plastic card into Ash's paws. The hybrid then sat back down and began to sleep as if the actions of the previous minutes never occurred.

Ash turned and headed back to his original car. By this time everyone was awake, even Pikachu.

Morris looked at Ash and said, "Where were you, we woke up to an explosion and you weren't here?"

Ash then explained that he woke up early and got into a battle with a passenger at the end car of the train.

Max looked at him and said, "I don't know what is more shocking, that you actually woke up early or that you managed to get into a battle that almost destroyed our transportation."

The loudspeaker announced, "The time is 6:45--due to unusual clear weather and tracks we will be arriving ahead of schedule. Our arrival time for Petalburg is now 7:30 a.m."

Morris smiled and said, "This is why I hate to travel by rail, they never know when your going to arrive."

May said, "At least Max and me will get home sooner. So did you win anything in that battle?"

Ash smiled and said, "Yep, the guy was unusually generous. I got a full restorer and a magnet."

Brock said, "Your kidding me. Full restorer's are impossible to find now. A magnet too? Who was this guy?"

Ash said, "I think he handed me a card--yep here it is." He then looked at the card and paled. Brock seeing a whitened Ash said, "What's the matter?'

Ash handed the card to Brock and everyone looked over his shoulder to read it also. It was metallic rust red with a yellow lightening bolt and a double t insignia. At the bottom of the card was an e-mail address.

Brock said, "Team Tech on this train? Where?"

Ash said, "rear car. Creepy Persian hybrid wearing gray."

Everyone quickly rushed to the last car of the train but there was nobody there. Ash looked around and located a charred travel guide laying on one of the seats. "This is what he was reading before he challenged me. Where could he have gone?"

The train then grinned to a halt. "Welcome to Petalburg. All passengers for this location please disembark. Thank you for using NTS."

Max looked out the train window and said, "Is that him?"

Everyone got off the train. Sure enough ahead was the Persian hybrid. He got into a car with blackened windows and sped away.

Ash said, "That was him alright."

Max said, "Perhaps we should head to our gym."

Morris nodded and said, "Agreed. If Team Tech is here this could get pretty ugly."

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Next: Petalburg and the Dark Tech encounter: Part 2

Rave Drifter


	6. 6

Chapter 6

Later on the outskirts of the city, a single Persina hybrid entered what looked like an old abandoned warehouse. He walked up to what looked like a wall consisting of various pipes protruding toward him.

He quickly darted a look in all directions to make sure he was not being watched. He then quickly spun a valve handle on one of the pipes, the wall next to him slide back revealing a spiral staircase. He began to descend and the wall slide shut behind him. After about a minute he reached the bottom. Before him was a lightly furnished, well lit room. It consisted of a table with a couple of lap tops on it, and a team tech flag hanging on one of the walls. The Persina yelled, "Is anyone here?"

A human stepped out from a side room and said, "Lieutenant Brooks, your early. Did you have a safe trip?"

The hybrid smiled and said, "Not really. You call being smuggled here in a small cargo plane comfortable? At least I had some enjoyment on the train. But that's not important. Do you know why I've been told to report here?"

The human was about to reply when Brooks cut him off.

"It's because Lieutenant Nylund your unit hasn't fully eradicated all Team Magma resistance in this area! And frankly it has our executives wondering about your fitness for duty."

Nylund said, "Well you'll be pleased to know that you came all this way for nothing. Last night we ran into Team Magma purely by chance. Don't believe me--here are some photos."

Brooks snatched them and began to study them. Photos of about a dozen Magma members: human and hybrid lying dead on the ground.

Nylund said, "We managed to destroy most of them, however two did manage to escape. Judging by the amount of holes we put in them they won't get very far."

Brooks nodded and said, "What did these two look like?"

Nylund answered, "Both Typhlosion hybrids."

Brooks ordered, "Get your men together, we'll do a house by house sweep of the entire city if necessary Do you have what we need for this?"

Nylund smiled wickedly and said, "Oh Yeh, there under the tarps upstairs."

Meanwhile, Ash and the gang finally arrived at the gym. It looked absolutely deserted. The outside walls were now covered with Green Earth graffiti and some of the trees out front had been hacked down.

May yelled, "Mom, Dad, is anyone here?"

Morris frowned and said, "I don't think they are here. Green Earth must have scarred them away. I wouldn't be surprised if this was happening to all gym leaders."

A voice suddenly boomed, "Hands/claws where I can see them!"

Everyone turned to see a Furret hybrid holding a ridiculously oversized shotgun.

"Who are you punks?"

May yelled, "We live here--who the hell are you?"

The hybrid yelled in return, "I could ask you the same."

Before a fight could break out, Morris and Brock got between the two.

Ash said, "We're here to see Norman the gym leader."

The hybrid said, "What business do you have with him?"

May said, "Didn't you hear me the first time, I LIVE HERE. I'M HIS DAUGHTER!"

The hybrid calmed down and said, "Oh--Your May? Sorry about that, a lot of jerks have been trespassing and messing this place up. We better get inside not only is it getting dark but it looks like rain."

Max said, "Are my parents o.k.?"

The hybrid nodded and said, "They're fine--just a little frazzled."

Meanwhile, in another part of town:

"So lady, you haven't seen anyone like the two we described? Thank you for your cooperation."

Nylund quickly walked back to a police vehicle and sat down behind the wheel. Brooks was next to him also in a police uniform.

"Anything?"

"Nope, she didn't know Jack. The others aren't doing well either. How many more houses do we have to search?"

Brooks nodded and said, "We'll check out all the remaining residents in this area, the gym and then make one final sweep through the commercial district. Those Magma assholes have to be here somewhere--I just feel it."

Please read, review, and recommend.

Next: Reunion and the Darkest Night

Rave Drifter


	7. 7

Chapter 7

That night the rain was coming down in droves, but at least now Ash and company were inside the gym. It looked like an absolute storm, lightening dancing across the sky. Max and May's parents were o.k., even though they were now Linoone hybrids. As for the hybrid they met earlier, it turned out he was training at the gym when the virus hit-and he was now stuck at the gym because he could no longer get back to his home on Seven Island with all the inflated travel rates they were now charging.

Max was rubbing his head, "Did Mom really have to rub our ears like that?"

May replied, "I don't know, it was kind of cute though."

Ash returned from the other room.

Brock asked, "Any luck?"

"No" replied Ash. "They are now saying all the lines are dead due to the storm. These things now run on satellites-how could the lines be dead?"

Morris said without looking up from his reading, "Electrical interference probably, storms like this can generate a lot of it. So anyway-Ash, Brock-have you figured out a way to get back home to Kanto?"

Ash said, "I really haven't thought about that much."

Brock said, "I have and it's going to be next to impossible." "You remember what that Furret hybrid said. He can't get back home because everyone is charging through the roof for any transport."

Morris nodded and said, "Well where he is from is pretty isolated-I'm sure it won't cost as much to get to Kanto. However, it still might be pretty high. I wonder how my family is doing over there?"

"You have family on Kanto Morris?" asked Brock.

"Yep, the only reason I came all the way here, was I was recruited by the Devon Corporation straight out of college, besides when you spend the first 18-19 years of your life living in the same city, you want to get out and see the world." replied Morris.

May said, "Really-where in Kanto did you grow up?"

Morris answered, "Lavender town-I swear everyone there is superstitious about everything. Have any of you ever been there? Everyone is very set in tradition. My father is one of the caretakers of one of the largest Mausoleums there. Growing up I was lucky to even find a piece of electrical equipment. He kept saying that just because science had proven a lot of things it still could not answer the mystery of life. That's why I just had to get out of there."

Ash nodded and said, "Yes, I've come across several of those places before."

Suddenly there was a thumping noise. The Furret hybrid who had just been sitting there listening said, "What the hell was that?" He then grabbed the shotgun he used earlier.

May quickly replied, "It's probably nothing-and since when has our family owned a shotgun or any weapon?"

The Furret replied, "Since the world started to go to hell that's why." He then opened the back door where the sound was originating and on the porch in the rain was a Typhlosion hybrid. All that he was wearing was a pair of red pants and he was riddled with a least a dozen bullet wounds.

The Furret hybrid exclaimed, "Shit! Don't tell me Green Earth did this."

Max and May's father Norman looked at the wounded hybrid and said, "He is still breathing-but barely. Help me carry him inside."

About an hour later, the Typhlosion hybrid was covered in bandages and lying on the couch. Most wounds were superficial and he was going to live.

Norman said, "Green Earth is getting way out of hand. You can no longer walk the streets at any time. We are becoming prisoners in our own homes."

Brock nodded and said, "Something puzzles me though-it's only been 3 months since everything changed. How could they get organized like this so quickly?"

Morris nodded and said, "I know, but think about it-two thirds of humanity are now hybrids right?"

Ash nodded and said, "Yes, so-"

"My point is that the among the third left is at least a couple of wealthy people-we all know that Pokemon have powers, like for instance, electric types can generate massive electricity like your Pikachu and of course fire types can survive even in the hottest environments, and water types can breathe underwater, so don't you think it is possible that this minority sees this as a true threat."

Norman nodded, "I see-so to protect themselves they are trying to strike first since they are in the minority and feel endangered?"

The Furret hybrid said, "My father was a teacher and once told me never to go into politics-he always felt power corrupts. They probably feel that hybrids being half Pokemon will use their powers to enslave or destroy the rest of humanity."

May added, "That is such a load of-"

Before anything else the Typhlosion hybrid began to moan.

The Furret hybrid walked over to him and said, "Are you o.k.?"

The Typhlosion simply moaned out, "Team Tech killed everyone-I'm all that's left!" He then passed out again.

This got everyone's attention.

"What!" exclaimed Ash. "Team Tech did this?"

The Furret said, "I could see why. I found this on the guy while we were dragging him in." He then tossed Ash some sort of pocket watch. On it was engraved the symbol of Team Magma. "They are probably trying to eliminate the local competition. They know that the blame will go to Green Earth."

Before anyone else could comment, there was a knock on the gym door.

"Police-Open Up" said a familiar voice.

Ash looked out the window and paled. It was the same Prsian hybrid he fought in the train. This time he was dressed in a police uniform.

Ash said, "That's that Team Tech member I fought on the train."

Norman said, "Quickly take him upstairs and hide him. I'll try to stale him. Hopefully he'll leave if he does not find him."

Both Morris and the Furret quickly lifted the Team Magma hybrid off the couch and began to haul him up the stairs.

Brock said, "Ash you had better go up too. You fought him before and he may recognize you and think something is up."

Ash simply nodded and ran up the stairs after them.

Please read, review, and recommend

Next: And everything just goes to hell

Rave Drifter


	8. 8

Sorry I've been away from this story for so long, but when I start something I intend to finish it. I was writing another story entitled MSG-Shadows of the Covenant, but it is now complete and I am again focusing on this story. If you want take a look at the other completed work. Just click on my pen name.

Chapter 8

Brooks was waiting at the gym door. The Hybrid looked down at his watch and was silently tapping the door with one of his claws. The sooner he got this over with the sooner he could get out of the itchy police uniform. He thought what do the people in this country make their uniforms out of fiberglass shavings.

The door finally opened and Brooks was face to face with a Linoone Hybrid. Probably the gym leader he thought. The gym had been known to train normal types.

Brooks strained at his collar trying to look as professional as possible and said, "Lieutenant Bidan, Peddleburg Police. We are looking for a dangerous fugitive. A Team Magma group engaged us in a shoot out an hour ago. All of them are in custody except for two who were badly wounded but managed to get away. Have you seen any Typholoson hybrids running about?"

Norman, the Linoone hybrid said, "No, not really, last Fire type hybrid I saw past by hours ago."

Brooks simply nodded, but then smelled something. It was kind of familiar. The one advantage of being a Persian hybrid was his enhanced sense of smell. "I smell blood!" he stated.

Norman was ready for this. He knew it was likely that Brooks might be able to smell the blood. After all, all hybrids probably had traits with those they were merged with.

"Oh that--my wife was preparing dinner and she accidentally dropped a heavy knife on her tail. It went in pretty deep--it was all over the kitchen. Luckily I was able to patch her up and avoid going to the hospital. Green Earth you know." Norman replied.

Brooks continued to look at Norman and scrutinize the surrounding yard. Due to the Green Earth graffiti and all the broken debris lying around, this gym leader was probably scared out of his mind. He seemed a bit too calm for Brooks.

"Well then" Brooks continued, "Will you submit your gym to a mandatory search? After all we are dealing with a very dangerous fugitive."

Norman led Brooks inside and said, "Well there is no way he could have gotten in here. Following an incident with Team Rocket a while back, I installed security measures."

Brooks looked over and there was indeed a security control panel mounted on the wall and it was operational. However, the smell of blood was now even stronger. Too strong for a simple knife wound.

He instantly grabbed Norman by the collar and slammed him into the wall and pointed a 45 revolver directly at his head.

"All right you dumb ass foreign yahoo, where the hell is he?" shouted Brooks into Norman's face.

Norman replied, "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me you lying sob. Where the hell is he? Tell me and I'll spare your miserable worthless life." shouted Brooks.

A voice yelled, "Ice Beam!" Instantly Brooks legs were frozen directly to the floor. He managed to look behind him to see a normal human being wearing dark gray holding an ancient Coonan 357 and a Polygon 2 at his side. Norman slid out of his grip and got along side him.

Norman said, "You're the sickest person I've ever encountered. Killing hybrids and blaming it on Green Earth. I'll not have Team Tech ruin my gym or anyone else's life."

Brooks scanned the entire room, smiled and said, "Like, Team Aqua or Magma ruined just as many people's lives." He slowly reached into his pocket to grab an ice heal, continuing to talk to distract Norman and Morris. "That's right, to us it's just a change of territory, hell, I heard that the leader of Magma main reason for expanding the world's land mass was because his only daughter downed when a ship went down. The people in this country twist logic more than we do." He then quickly popped the top of the bottle and dropped it onto the ice that instantly melted away.

Brooks then did a round house kick knocking Norman into the wall. Another person ran into the gym and yelled, "Boss what's wrong?"

"Nyland, you jackass, haven't you heard a thing, this place is hiding that hybrid we are searching for. Get on the radio and get everyone over here now."

Nyland began to run out the door. Morris was about to shoot him but Brooks slammed into him knocking the gun from his hand.

"Don't you guys ever learn?" yelled Brooks.

Morris screamed, "Not really! Glitch, lets take this guy down."

Glitch replied "Oh yeah, ready."

Brooks questioned, "Do you really think one Porygon 2 can take me on?" He then threw 3 great balls to the ground, revealing a Sneasnel and two Electabuzz's. I repeat the question, "think you can take me?"

A voice yelled, "Fire Blast!" and a huge amount of fire permeated the area, knocking Brooks Sneasnel out but his two Electabuzz's remained having used a barrier at the last second.

Brooks looked up to see that same Jolteon kid he fought on the train, along with the exact same Torkoal that defeated him previously.

Morris yelled, "Ash what the hell, you are suppose to be upstairs."

Ash replied, "Well, I'm not letting this guy take another life. I should have realized who he was on the train by the way he fights."

Brooks cracked up laughing. "Your that Jolteon punk. What a small world this turns out to be. You want to throw your life away? Fine. I'm in the mood. Lets Dance!"

Authors Note: Once again, sorry for being away for a while. Now to answer a question one of my readers BellTiger sent, the virus as I explained in my previous story, only affects humans. Pokemon are the carriers sort of like rats during the Black Plague. As for Green Earth, I based them off of Blue Cosmos from Gundam Seed. I stated earlier that 70 per cent of humanity was changed, so it's not unlikely that in the remaining 30 percent there are a few rich and highly fanatical people who are willing to sponsor them.

Next: Battle Royal.

Thanks for your patience Rave Drifter.


	9. 9

Chapter 9

Brooks was staring down Ash and Morris waiting for them to make the first move. His ears were constantly twitching. He knew from experience that that Jolteon punks torkoal was extremely powerful. As for the other guy that Porygon2 was a wild card. Finally, he decided he had waited long enough and ordered his Electarbuzzs:

"Number 1--Number 2 Attack combo extreme speed zap cannon."

Morris yelled, "Glitch Barrier!"

Ash yelled out, "Torkoal fire blast!"

Brooks responded, "Evade!"

Both Electarbuzzs dodged the fire blast and one fired off a huge orb of electricity, while the other one began to tackle Glitch at an insane speed. Glitch managed to hold, but Torkoal was knocked into the wall by the zap cannon.

Ash yelled, "Dammit! Torkoal return." He then called out, "Grovyle go." Grovyle appeared out of his great ball and as usual stuck a twig in his mouth like a cigarette.

Brooks took a step back. "Dam a grass type" he muttered. "I'd better finish this quickly. Number 1 Number 2 hyper beam at full power."

As the two Electabuzzs began to charge up Morris yelled, "Dam, Glitch funnel everything you have into your barrier."

Glitch replied, "I am but my scan says they are at least at level 40, if they both fire this place will be leveled."

Ash yelled, "Stop, did you hear what he said, you're going to level this place."

Brooks replied, "Why the hell should I care? Level this place, not only do we take care of that Magma prick, but destroying this gym will teach this countries hicks to truly fear going against Team Tech. Number 1 Number 2--FIRE!"

Both released their hyper beams but Grovyle jumped in front of them and was engulfed in a huge wave of energy.

Ash cried, "Grovyle No!"

Morris replied, "There is no way he could survive that."

Suddenly the energy cleared and Grovyle was still standing. He then began to glow and change shape. Brooks took another step back and said, "No one has ever been able to survive a double hyper beam. What the hell is going on?"

Ash whispered, "He's evolving!"

When the glaring light cleared, there stood what was once Grovyle, only now he was at least twice as big. Small yellow ball like scales protruded from his back and he had a leafy tail.

Glitch said, "It's a Sceptile, I never thought I would see one of those."

Ash look it up on the Pokedex: Sceptile--the jungle lizard Pokemon. The final evolution of Treecko, they have been known to dwell in the jungles deep within southeast Asia. Fiercely protective of their territory, once they choose a tree to live in, they will defend it by any means necessary. Level 38.

Suddenly, Sceptiles ball like scales began to glow and before anyone could react he let loose a massive solar beam that blew Brooks and the two Electrabuzz's straight through the wall and into the yard. Morris and Ash just stood there staring in disbelief. Sceptile simply looked at them winked and passed out.

Morris looked at Ash and said, "Do you always have this kind of luck?"

Ash replied, "Oh yeah."

Outside Brooks was getting himself up off the muddy ground. Both his Electrabuzzs were knocked clear out. He recalled both of them and let loose a string of cruses that would have made a sailor cringe. Suddenly there was a beeping noise and he flipped open his cell phone amazed that it still was functional.

"What? I'm busy."…"Nyland what do you mean the cops found out……O.K. get out of town and I'll finish up here." He hung up and limped over to the stolen cop car. He popped the trunk and brought out an old soviet RPG, written on the rocket in Russian was: Caution napalm anti-infantry head.

Brooks took aim and fired directly into the second floor of the gym. The whole building was quickly engulfed in flames. Brooks dropped the spent launcher and got into the car. He simply smiled. No way in hell anyone could survive that he thought. Those flames were nearly as hot as molten steel. He could now hear sirens in the distance. He quickly accelerated the car and disappeared into the night.

Inside the fire was raging completely out of control. Morris and Ash were battling their way through the gym to get everyone out. Glitch was firing off multiple ice beams to clear a path while Ash's Crawdaunt was hosing down the two with his water gun attack to keep them cool.

Ash yelled, "We can't keep this up much longer."

Morris who was carrying Norman on is shoulder yelled, "Just a little more we are almost to the rear room."

Morris kicked open the door to reveal Brock, May and Max, the furret hybrid and Norman's wife passed out on the floor, probably from smoke inhalation. The Team Magma typhlosion hybrid was no where to be found.

Ash ran over to Pikachu who he had left there to guard them just in case. He too was passed out. Ash yelled, "Pikachu say something!" All that Pikachu could do was let out a tiny little moan.

Morris yelled, "The fire is blocking the window--Glitch Ice Beam Full Power!"

Outside people and hybrids were watching the flames engulf the building.

--Do you think it was green earth?--

--There is no way in hell anyone is surviving that.--

--Everyone Back-Back we are getting ready to spray the fire foam. We need room.--

At that moment a wall of the gym began to glow blue and suddenly shattered.

Morris and Ash along with their Pokemon walked clear of the building. Morris set Norman down on the lawn and Ash yelled "There's people directly inside."

A firefighter simply nodded and he and the others both human and hybrid began pulling everyone out of the room and onto the front lawn.

Ash gently set Pikachu down and looked up at the sky. It was morbid watching this evil cloud of smoke engulf the stars. He then passed out from shear exhaustion.

Meanwhile, half a world away, the leader of Team Tech was in his office drinking a Red Tauros Energy drink and looking a couple of LC screens. On them were Team Tech's executives both human and hybrid, shadowed of course so no one could identify them.

--Stocks in our legit business American Stars are continuing to sky rocket. Mostly in the medical electronicsDivision. Due to the fact that hybrids are part Pokemon of course, diagnosing and treating diseases is going to become very complicated to say the least. We're predicting over two to three hundred per cent increase in medical scanner and equipment sales over the next decade.--

The leader of Team Tech nodded and took another sip. "Good Jenkins, very good indeed. Continue funneling the money back into R & D. We have to capitalize on this continually before any competitors catch up. Now on to more pressing matters, as you are aware, Green Earth is beginning to spiral out of control. I originally helped Reverend Archer bring up enough funds to start the organization just weeks after Bailey's attack on the condition that he only attacks countries that Team Tech does not currently operate in.

A diversionary tactic to keep the governments busy while we spread our control. However, it seems that Archer has decided to backstab me. Apparently he has found other sponsors and is now attempting to sever ties with us by attacking both countries we are established in but also our legit interest as well. Green Earth has served it purpose to Team Tech, I want you all to start leaking information to the FBI, CIA, and all other intelligence agencies around the world. Locations, of bases, funding, with our involvement edited out of course, and the whole nine yards. But first, I want Archer dead. Make it look like an accident. That will be all."

All the LC screens went blank and the leader of Team Tech turned around and began to stare at the Seattle Skyline muttering to himself: Calvin you are such an idiot. I should have never sponsored that lunatic. At least he served his purpose and he will now be quickly disposed of.

Please read, review and recommend.

Next: A Grim Situation

Rave Drifter


	10. 10

Half way done now--Caution this one's kind of dark.

Chapter 10

Ash reawake to find himself in a bed in an extremely dark room. Outside the window rain, thunder and lightening continued. The lights on the ceiling flickered when finally they fully turned on to show that he was lying in a hospital room and a Ursaring hybrid in a doctors uniform was standing near the switch.

"Dam thing takes forever to turn on." The hybrid then looked over at Ash. "Oh, your awake sorry that I didn't notice." He then glanced at the monitor. "Hmm, everything seems normal enough." He began scribbling something on an oversize clipboard.

Ash blurted out "Where's everyone else?"

The hybrid doctor replied, "Oh, do you mean your friends? They are scattered all around the place. Mostly on this floor. Your Pokemon are in the make shift center we set up in the basement. Knowing how things are going it will probably become a permanent one. Do you need anything? Food--Water?"

Ask muttered, "I'm fine thank you."

The doctor nodded and said, "I'm surprised you are, you inhaled a awful lot of smoke. In the OR, I believe your heart stopped two--no three times, I forget. If you need anything press the buzzer next to your bed."

The doctor then left the room.

Ash managed to climb out of the bed, and looked in a mirror. His fine yellow fur and spiky hair were absolutely filthy, probably from soot and burning debris. He quickly washed it off as best he could and managed to get into the hall.

The lights in the hall were constantly flickering as both hybrid and human doctors ran about. There were patients on cots in the hallway, most likely because the place was over its capacity.

He limped down the hallway to a desk where a human nurse was half asleep. "Excuse me miss." The nurse's head shot up and she glanced both directions before looking directly at him. "Kid leave me alone, I'm overworked as it is. With the overload of patients and the strain on the equipment the power is failing"

Ash said, "Sorry, I'm just looking for my friends."

The nurse sighed and said, "Here's the clipboard, find them as best you can yourself." She then passed out again.

Ash took a look at the clipboard, May, Max, and their parents were one floor up while everyone else was down one floor. Ash walked over to the elevator. On the touch screen instead of the normal up and down buttons was low power all elevator service suspended. Ash decided then to check on everyone downstairs first.

The stairwell of the hospital was surprisingly wide and spacious. This was probably built as such for all sorts of reasons. After descending one floor and through the door he was surprised to see that this floor was as crowded as his. He muttered under his breath, "how much damage did Team Tech actually do?"

A desk that said F9 information was completely deserted. Ash checked the clipboard again. Morris and Brocks room was 10 doors down and to the left. The door was marked F9 X-Ray. Ash opened the door to see two old fashioned roller hospital beds lined up against the wall with the X-Ray machine pushed off to one side. A card table was folded between the beds holding medicines and a plastic jug of water.

Brock looked up and said, "Ash what are you doing here?"

Ash said, "Just woke up, they said I almost died--how about you?"

Brock replied, "I got lucky with just a few burns. From what I heard I'm surprised that you survived."

Ash asked, "What about Morris?"

Brock answered, "Same as you--he almost didn't make it. He's stable but drifting in and out of consciousness."

Ash asked, "How long have we been here?"

"Five maybe six hours, I'm not quite sure. How are May, Max and her parents?" asked Brock.

Ash stated, "I'm not sure of that either, I'm going back upstairs to check. After that I'll probably head down to the basement to check on Pikachu and the others."

Brock nodded and said, "Will you also make sure that everyone else's Pokeman are alright?"

Ash said, "Of course!" and left the room.

Ash found it much harder to go up the stairs than down. One of his legs was emitting a dull throbbing pain. It was probably from a crush injury or burns.

The 11th floor was surprisingly vacant. It was not as crowded as the other floors, probably due to the fact that it was the top floor of the hospital and it only took up half the building space as the other floors. The other half was the helipad.

A hybrid Sandshrew doctor walked up and said, "Hey kid this floor is reserved for people in critical condition. Get the hell out of here."

Ash stated, "I'm friends with May and Max, this clipboard states they are up here."

The doctor took one look at the clipboard and said, "Oh, you know the White family? Why didn't you say so? They're down the hall the last door before the helipad access. I'm afraid I can only allow you 5 minutes though, they are in critical but stable condition. I don't want to over excite them." The doctor led Ash down the hall to a door marked 1125. "I'll wait out here, be sure to call if something happens."

Ash looked into the room. Like all the others the lights were dim and flickering. Max, May and Norman were unconscious lying in their respective hospital beds. Norman's wife Rebecca was inside an oxygen tent covering the entire bed and surrounding area. The doctor walked in and said, "She suffered the worst. Massive smoke inhalation. We had to do multiple operations to remove burned skin and fur. I say here chances are 40/60."

Ash lowered his head and asked, "Will you tell me if any of them regain consciousness."

The doctor nodded and said, "O.K. what is your room number?"

Ash thought for a moment and said, "1017".

The doctor replied, "I'll give you a call if there is a change in any of their conditions. Your leg was badly burned, were you o.k. climbing the stairs?"

Ash answered, "Yeah, but the pain felt like a Taillow declared war on the inside of my head."

The doctor chuckled and replied, "Yeah, I was attacked once by those birds too. Take this."

Ash looked down at what appeared to be a key but instead of teeth it had indentations like a hotel key.

The doctor said, "Right below the elevator button LC touch screen is a key hole, this is the override key, because the elevators are running on low power, were only using them to transfer the most seriously injured patients to this floor, you can use it as long as you promise to return it when you are done."

Moments later the elevator opened on the basement floor. Ash stepped out looking absolutely wiped out.

He was thinking to himself, just one quick look and I'll head back up. Just like the top floor the basement was almost silent. Surprisingly none of the lights were flickering. The speakers were playing a classical but somewhat creepy music. The directional sign on the wall had been taped over with a piece of paper with an arrow pointing in each direction. Left: Pokemon OR------Right: Recovery Area. Notice: No Entry Without Trainer I.D.

Ash sighed and started to walk down the hall hoping that Pikachu and the others were alright

Once again we zoom across the world to Team Tech Headquarters.

Calvin Merit Team Tech's current leader was looking over various reports. He literally wanted to kill someone. That bastard Archer simply vanished. While the information he secretly provided helped the world's governments put away or kill nearly all of Green Earth's members, that crazy Reverend and at least 24 of Green Earth's remaining members had gone underground.

One of the grunts walked through the door, "Boss you have a call."

Calvin looked down at the phone realizing that one of the lights was blinking. He quickly shooed the grunt out of the room and picked up the phone, "Yes, what is it? Oh it's you, is this line secure?…..Good, so have you considered my offer 009?….You want an extra 25 million?" Calvin silently cursed, "Fine! 75 million and a group of my finest will go and pick you up and transport you directly here. Where's the pick up?….Sea Foam Islands--that's pretty isolated but I'm sure I can manage it. Two weeks from today. Midnight. My men will be waiting for you."

He hung up the phone and once again stared out the window. Everything had fallen into place almost perfectly. Once Team Rocket was out of the way, absolutely nothing could stop him.

Please read, review and recommend.

Note: 1. Sorry for the delay, I've hit sort of a dry spell, I plan on sending everyone back to Kanto, but I would like you the reader to decide how I should pull it off. Send all ideas to and 2. My prayers go out to all those who are victims of hurricane Katrina.

Rave Drifter


	11. Chapter 11

My apologies for lack of updates. They will be coming a bit more frequently now.

Chapter 11

4 weeks later:

The ship was slowly drugging across the Indian Ocean heading straight for Kanto. Inside his cabin, Ash was laying on the bed staring up at the fan as it slowly turned. Pikachu was curled up at the end of the bed fast asleep. It was extremely late at night, but a certain memory was keeping Ash awake. It was the memory of May and Max's mother's funeral. About an hour after he checked on Pokemon, their mother went into cardiac arrest and passed. It was so quick nothing could be done. After the funeral which took place 15 days later, Norman asked him, Brock and Morris to take him over to Kanto. The death of his wife was getting everyone extremely riled up, especially the military because no one was going to take the death of the wife of a gym leader lying down. Norman said that come this time next week the hills would literally be crawling with every police officer and military personnel in the country searching everywhere for Team Tech and Green Earth. In fact it was true, earlier before they were out of range of the radio, the news alerted them that the Honner League along with their government in light of this had issued a shoot to kill order for all members of Team Tech and Green Earth.

Ash stepped out on to the ships deck. The full moon was floating at the apex of the sky. In about a week according to the ships schedule, it would dock at Vermilion. Normally, it would make a stop over at Olivine in Joto, but this ship due to the number of people from Kanto aboard was heading there nonstop. Earlier he had spoken to Brock and Morris about the map. It was decided that first off they would head for Lavender town. Morris wanted to check in on his family who he hadn't seen in years. Then using routes 9 and 10 they would work their way to Cerulean and then down through Mount Moon to Pewter and finally taking routes 2 and 1 to Pallet, using a new path they had heard about that bypassed Viridian completely.

Ash decided to go and talk to May and Max. Their cabin was right below his. The stairs were extremely creaky, but this was an extremely old ship so it wasn't too surprising. At the very least the ship was clean.

When he exited the stairwell, he heard voices coming from the deck. It looked out the port hole to see Max and some strange hybrid having a battle. The reason why the hybrid was so peculiar is that he looked almost like a normal human, the only difference was the dark purple skin and glowing red eyes.

Max yelled out, "Yanma! Double team then solar beam." The bug instantly complied and began to circle around the hybrid's sableye at extremely high speed.

The hybrid smiled and said, "Your way too easy. I'm ending this." In a eerily calm voice he said, "Sableye, self-destruct." Sableye detonated causing a huge cloud of fire and smoke to engulf the entire deck. When the smoke cleared Max was in shock. Yanma was knocked out, but Sableye was still standing.

Max exclaimed, "How is that even possible? After using self destruct the Pokemon who uses it should be knocked out as well."

The hybrid said, "Don't make me laugh….if you are really as smart as you say you would have figured out the trick."

Max said, "What do you mean?"

"It's a simple trick, even an amateur like you should be able to get it. It's called a Lum Berry. Any Pokemon holding it that gets knocked out is instantly revived with a small amount of health. You said before the match that you knew a lot, but I see your just a little brat who blows a lot of hot air." replied the Hybrid.

Ash stepped out and said, "You should apologize, just because you won a battle does not mean you can be a jerk."

The Hybrid said, "Who the hell are you supposed to be? The Police?"

"I'm Ash from Pallet Town and I'd like to challenge you to a battle. If I win you must apologize to Max here."

The Hybrid laughed and said, "If he's your friend you are probably no better in battle than he is. I Daniel Fenton of Stone Town accept. Let's make this quick, one-on-one with no rules or limits."

Max said to Ash, "Careful Ash, this guys a ghost type trainer, and he knows quite a few tricks."

Ash nodded and said, "Don't worry Max, I've faced ghost types before. This will just be like practice."

Daniel nodded and said, "I'm going to make you regret thinking that this is just practice."

Daniel then enlarged a great ball and opened it up, "Gengar--Go!"

Ash looked at Daniel's Gengar, it was somewhat larger than a usual one. He took a quick scan and almost freaked at what he saw. The Pokedex said level 65.

Daniel said, "I doubt you will be able to counter the first Pokemon I ever got. Of course, he is the one who gave me the weird virus, but personally I don't give a darn, it just gives me a stronger bond with him. Now what are you going to bring to the party?"

Ash's mind went into over-drive. Thinking to himself, Damm I never encountered a ghost type this powerful before. I hope this will work. Then he yelled out, "Go Crawdaunt!"

Daniel took a step back and quickly scanned Ash's Crawdaunt. He then said, "A dark type--good thinking. But my Gengar is 20 levels higher than him. Now Gengar show them that little trick we came up with."

Suddenly Gengar disappeared into thin air and Ash yelled, "Crawdaunt careful. Be ready to move at the slightest moment."

Daniel replied, "No good, Now Heaven and Hell!"

Suddenly two after images of Gengar one out of the floor and the other out of the ceiling collided with Crawdaunt pushing him back several feet. The after images merged back together and Gengar slowly floated back to the floor. Daniel smiled and said, "I'm surprised your Pokemon is still standing. Very few opponents of mine were able to survive that attack. I'm finishing this. Sludge bomb"

Ash yelled, "Shadow Ball with everything you have left!"

Both attacks collided causing a huge explosion. When the dust settled both Daniel and Ash's Pokemon were knocked out.

Daniel stuttered "How the hell--you've got to be kidding me, a double knock out--but Gengar was 20 levels higher than you."

Ash said, "This isn't the first time he's done this, Crawdaunt really hates losing."

Daniel nodded and recalled Gengar, "We shall battle again, that was just a lucky brake, since no one won I don't have to apologize."

Before Ash could respond, Daniel opened up another great ball revealing a Banette. "Banette teleport us back to our room." In a flash of light both Daniel and his Pokemon were gone.

Ash went to Max and said, "Are you o.k.?"

Max slumped on to the deck rubbing his hand through his fur, "I don't know, it's just that with Mom dead and having to leave home, I've been kind of off lately. Dad told me to be strong and train to the best of my ability, but I guess it wasn't enough."

Ash replied, "I've had those days as well where I thought I wasn't good enough." Then he had an idea, "Hey Max, did I ever tell you about the time I actually met a Lugia?"

Max instantly perked up and said, "You met a legendary Pokemon? How did that happen?"

"It's a long story, I'll take you back to May and tell you both."

Authors Note:

It took me a long time to think this up, consider this chapter a transition between the first half and the second half of my story. I will admit it's a bit shaky. Anyhow, Please read review and comment.

Next:

Kanto

Rave Drifter


	12. Chapter 12

Notice: I'm going to be gone again for a while, however, at the request of a reader the legendaries will appear at the end of this chapter.

Chapter

"Attention all passengers we are now docked at Vermilion City. The local time is 1303, the temperature is 61 degrees and overcast. Thank you for using the SS Tsunami and please enjoy your stay here in Kanto."

Down the ships ramp came Ash, Brock, Morris, Max and May. Morris looked around and said, "Good to be home. Winter must be coming late, it's not usually this warm."

May was also looking around, "So this is Kanto? Doesn't look that much different from home."

Brock said, "Yes, but you have to remember, there are a lot of Pokemon we're used to and your not."

Max simply nodded and was fumbling with a guide book. "Yes, Sis, this is a whole different region, most of these I've only seen in books. I'm actually quite excited."

May looked at Max and said, "Doesn't it bother you that we're far from home and it's probably a war zone by now?"

After her comment it quickly broke down into a full force argument with Ash, Morris and Brock having to pry the two siblings apart.

Much later the group managed to make it to the Route 12 Gate House which was currently packed with fellow travelers both human and hybrid. The soldier in charge of the Gate House announced over the speaker "All right sun is down and we are locking up in accordance with current law. Anyone who tries to leave will face a $1,000 fine. Thank you for your cooperation."

Everyone was unrolling sleeping bags and ask said, "This is not really what I had in mind for my first night home."

May replied, "Couldn't we just have stayed in Vermillion and gotten a hotel room? My clothes and fur are absolutely filthy! The restrooms here don't have showers, just a massive shared sink and toilet stalls."

Max said, "Do you have to be like this all the time? Besides, tomorrow we will be in Lavender and I'm sure Morris' family has food and showers."

Morris simply chuckled and said, "Not likely! Remember what I said earlier, my Dad is one of those cemetery shrine keepers. We live in one of the older houses, we have a toilet and sink but nothing beyond that."

May paled and said, "Your kidding--Right?"

Morris replied, "Nope, no electricity either. Don't worry there is a bath house a block down. Doesn't cost very much. Probably the only good memory I have of the place. It's very quite and relaxing in the steam rooms, used to go there whenever my Father's old friends used to visit. Trust me you don't' want to listen to a bunch of priest discussing spirits, ghost types and how technology has ruined the world for hours on end."

Morris' Polygon 2, Glitch said, "Your kidding me right--no electricity, no computers--nothing?"

Morris scratched his chin and said, "Well most of the city has power, but the old parts of town where I grew up--very traditional."

Glitch simply snorted and said, "Then do me a favor, keep me in my ultra ball the entire time we are there. I'll probably go crazy."

Before Morris could retort, Max cut in and said, "Is there anything else interesting about Lavender Town, my guide only covers the regions Pokemon."

Morris said, "Not much really. There is an old abandoned power plant cold fusion test lab just a few miles to the North. There's the Mausoleum Tower and the Skyler Estate."

Ash said, "I've been to Lavender once before and I've never heard of that place."

Brock said, "I've heard of it. It used to belong to one of the old members of the elite four. A ghost type trainer of incredible skill. When he died in 2010 he left his mansion to his ghosts."

Ash instantly thought of something and said, "Wait, did it kind of look like a castle tower with horns on top?"

Morris answered, "Pretty much, Why?"

"I actually went in there one time long ago. I was trying to catch a ghost type for the Saffron Gym." answered Ash.

Morris looked at Ash and said, "Well you are lucky you weren't arrested. That place is a town historical site, no one is allowed to set foot on the lawn even. Although I am kind of curious. What happened in there?"

Ash replied, "I'll tell you in the morning, it's a very long story and I haven't thought about it in quite a long time."

Brock added, "Oh yes, now I remember the place. Trust me, Morris, it was one of the creepier experiences I ever had."

May simply shrugged and said, "Will you all knock it off with the ghost stories, I'm trying to sleep, and that's not easy when you have delcatty style night vision."

Morris swallowed two Sominex and said, "She has a point. Glitch wake us up in the morning. This time please actually look out the window. You know your internal clock is screwed up."

Everyone quickly fell asleep with Glitch muttering to himself, "Yeh, Yeh, whatever."

SCENE CHANGE: Very far away in an isolated part of the Johto Wilderness lies Purity Mountain and Canyon, an area of extremely rugged forests, deep gorges and extremely violent weather due to warm air from the Indian Ocean on Johto's coast colliding with cold air from Russian and the former Soviet Republics to the North.

Known for its healing properties, the water in this area is said to be almost as effective as some of the worlds best antibiotics. However, due to the extreme conditions of the area, very few ever come to this place which suited Mewtwo just fine.

Deep within Purity Mountain, where he made his home, was a small lab he created using his psychic powers. Several small cell like niches were carved into the wall with a sheet of military grade transparent aluminum with all sorts of pipes sticking out at odd angles. There were about 12 of this booths in all, and in 5 of them were the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Lugia, and Ho-oh. In three others were the legendary beasts of Johto Raikou, Entei, and Suicune.

Mew was floating right next to his counterpart and said, "Mewtwo are you sure everything is working? We can't afford a catastrophic error."

Mewtwo simply said, "Everything is working within operational parameters. The cryonic sleep chambers are fully operational. I've set the timer for 10 years as I recommended to all the other legendaries. Besides, you know I'm perfectly adept at technology for I am a product of it."

Mew simply nodded. After what the humans called Star Dust continued to change the world, the legendaries held an emergency meeting. Ho-oh said that what he meant when he told the ancient people to live with nature in perfect harmony was taken way too literally. It quickly evolved into a fierce argument. Some were for taking immediate action and prevent the spread of chaos by doing random appearances just like the legend that was recently distorted dictated. Some were in favor of complete isolation. It was Mewtwo who came up with the compromise. Using his psychic powers and technological skills, he build several cyro chambers with a single decade timer on them. Their purpose was simple: All the legendaries except him and Mew would be put to sleep for a single decade. When the timers expired and they woke-- he and Mew who could be awake the whole time would have gathered information on the world's progress which they would share with the legendaries who would then decide their course of action.

Mewtwo said, "It's done. Everything is operating within specified parameters. Mew are you sure you don't want to get into the extra chamber?"

Mew replied, "Of course not silly, someone has to keep you company. You let all the clones go so they could decide their own way in life. Also, the loneliness could drive you crazy."

Mewtwo simply snorted and said, "I have to agree with you on that at the very least. Have I ever told you how crazy you sometimes drive me?"

Mew said, "Yeh, about once a week. But that's why you like me. That and the round about way that you are kind of my off spring."

Mewtwo thought to himself: How the hell was I cloned from this? He then said, "Come we have much work to do to fully secure all access to the interior of the mountain."

Then the two psychic cats floated away leaving the legendaries to their slumber.

Author note: This has to be almost the longest thing I've every typed. In answer to a couple of questions. A. Max became a trainer soon after Prophesy of Fire. For those who read it, he got himself a Yanma and I'm guessing his father called in a few favors to get him a license. B. I know my story is going a bit fast for a few, but that's just the way I tell them, straight to the point with a decent amount of detail.

Please read, review and recommend

Next: Lavender Town

Rave Drifter


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

We join our group just outside of Lavender Town. The sun barely breaking through the clouds. A cold mist was hanging just above the ground.

Morris said, "Never thought I'd come back to this place again."

Ash replied, "Is it just me or has this place gotten even creepier since last time?"

May said, "This is Lavender Town? This place looks like something out of the movies. Kind of like Kakurenbo or something. "

Max said, "I doubt there are any kids wearing ninetails masks and soul sucking creatures running about."

Morris nodded and said, "Yeh, I've seen that one, but if you ask me the whole thing about the Skylar Estate Ash told me about was a whole lot creepier."

Max said, "I know, I didn't know that ghost types could do that."

Brock added, "I know at first I thought that Ash was dead."

Ash yelled, "I was not dead! Besides that out of body experience gave me a good view. The whole town looked quite amazing at 100 feet in the air."

This augment continued until they got in front of what looked like an old Japanese Temple. Ash and May stopped arguing and took a good look at the place. It was of decent size, grass neatly trimmed and pine bushes evenly spaced along side the building. Statues of Grass Type Pokemon adorned the roof looking out over everything like gargoyles.

Morris said, "Here we are my families shrine. Been in the family for at least 75 years. I think my father was third generation or something. It's been a while I've forgotten."

May looked at one of the statues, it was a aged green bronzed Exeggutor in what looked like a serene pose. May asked, "What's with the Grass Type Statues?"

Morris said, "Well in this part of town, there one shrine dedicated to one type of Pokemon. My family runs the shrine dedicated to Grass Types. Kind of ironic considering our last name. There is one for fire, ice, dark types--you get the general idea."

May looked back at the statue and said, "That is actually kind of cool. What do people do at these places?"

Brock interrupted while looking at his guide book saying, "Well according to this whenever any one of the trainers Pokemon dies they go to one of these shrines depending on what type the deceased was, burn to ash some food or trinkets as a offering and then bring the body to the mausoleum tower for burial."

Morris nodded, "Yes that's about right--one time we had to rent a flatbed. Have you ever tried moving a 300 pound Venusaur? It took us hours to get that thing on the truck, to the tower, back off the truck and to the cremation chamber. In the end, we had to use several physic types to telekinetically float the body into the furnace."

The group walked into the building. The entire interior was done up in fine polished pine wood with pillars painted a dark forest green. The pillars supported a stairway and landing. The entire foyer was decked out in old religious artifacts.

Glitch who Morris let out of his ultra ball said, "This is where you used to live? Man no wonder you wanted to leave. It's like a museum only creepier."

Upon that word lights mysteriously went on. Morris quickly drew his 357 and began scanning the foyer.

Ash said, "Wait a second, didn't you say this place had no electricity?"

Morris nodded and said, "Yes something is not quite right here. Dad would never install anything electrical."

Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and began to emit sparks, ears constantly twitching.

Ash said, "Hear something Pikachu?"

Pikachu simply nodded and then they heard footsteps coming from behind a door underneath the archway.

Morris said, "Get ready, I don't know what is going on."

Pikachu and Glitch quickly grouped close together ready to attack as soon as the door opened. The handle jiggled a bit and finally flew wide open. Standing there wearing what looked like a shrine keepers outfit was a Raticate Hybrid. The only thing missing was the giant buck teeth, other than that the ears, whiskers, fur and tail looked proportionally correct.

She quickly lowered a staff she was carrying and said, "Morris--is that really you?"

Morris blinked his eyes and said, "What the! Emily? Glitch, Pikachu don't attack!" Morris then ran up and gave her a huge hug.

She said, "I've missed you very much."

Morris replied, "Same here."

He then looked her over and said, "You didn't come out of this half bad. It would have been much worse if you had gotten the teeth."

She cracked up laughing and said, "I thought of that too, I probably would not have been able to talk."

Morris stepped to the side and said, "Ash, Brock, Max, May, this is my sister Emily. She stayed behind to help Dad with the shrine when I went off to join the Devin Corporation."

Before anyone could introduce themselves, Brock shoved Morris aside and took Emily's hand with that "you know what look" in his eyes.

"I must say the outfit and the fur color goes together perfectly, my name is Brock and I wondering if you would like to--"

May cut him off digging her claws into Brocks back and dragged him off saying, "She is not even your species anymore."

Glitch who watched the whole thing replied, "O.K. that was just 50 kinds of wrong."

Emily walked over to Glitch and picked him up saying, "It Talks? It's so cute! Bro where did you get this?"

Glitch replied, "Ah stop--really I'm not that great. See someone appreciates me."

Morris said under his breath, "Suck Up! Then he said, "Anyway sis, what's with the Temple being wired?"

Emily sighed and said, "A couple of months after you ran off there was a huge cold snap--remember?"

Brock said, "Oh yeah, that happened while we were over in Johto, got really cold with massive blizzards."

Emily nodded and said, "We got the worst of it here in Lavender. A whole bunch of people died from the cold. After that, the town required that all buildings be wired and heated regardless of personal belief."

Max said, "Makes sense, this place could become frigid pretty easily."

Morris said, "Yeah, this place was always cold and damp in the winter. Question sis, when this place was wired did we get a phone?"

Emily laughed and said, "No that's where he drew the line. However, I did manage to hide this from him."

She then tossed him over a strange looking cell phone.

Morris took one look at it and said, "This is a direct satellite phone, how the heck did you get one of these?"

Emily said, "Recently, there was a huge riot right after the virus ran its course, father got killed in it--he tried to protect me and several other hybrids from a couple of Green Earth supporters, they're all arrested but still---she fell into silence.

This reply literally shocked everyone, especially Morris who had all the color drained from his face. Morris silently handed Ash the satellite phone saying, "You better make sure your family is all right. I'm going out back."

Emily nodded and said, "The private tomb for the shrine keeper and their family is out there. I'll go with him. In the next room there is couch and table, stay there until we get back. We'll need some time alone."

Both Morris and his sister left the room and Glitch said, "He may be my annoying trainer, but even I don't think he deserves this."

Everyone silently walked into the living room, Ash thinking--Green Earth, if I ever see one of them…..

Please read, review, and recommend.

Next: Departure

Rave Drifter


	14. Chapter 14

I apologize for being gone for nearly 2 months. A lot of stuff came up, mostly flu and computer related.

Time to get back on track.

Chapter 14.

It was extremely late at night. Morris was lying face up on the couch. A bottle of some very cheap rice wine lay half empty on the coffee table along with the satellite phone and Glitches Ultra-Ball which was currently occupied.

"Why the hell would he need to sleep? He doesn't even breathe" Morris grumbled. Even though he was half drunk and out of it, he was still able to think somewhat logically. "First one thing then another. I don't care what people say, there is no way anyone can become fully sanitized to death. But does my company care?--NO! I call them up, tell them what is going on and all they tell me is that they are going to send over my equipment from Moss Deep and I am to continue research. Some crap about staying competitive with American Stars in Medical Equipment."

A voice knocked Morris out of his thoughts--"Half a Gallon of Rice Wine that can't be healthy."

Morris looked up to see May staring at him. "Aren't you suppose to be in bed? It's like something in the morning" said Morris.

May simply sat down and answered, "I know Morris I just couldn't sleep."

Morris chuckled and said, "Let me guess, that Delcatty-style night vision giving you problems again?"

"No, it's Ash he sound like a freight train, but also I'm kind of worried about you."

Morris replied, "Well don't be--your like what 11--12. I'm 23 and I can mope however I want."

May took one look at him and then quickly slashed the shirt that Morris was wearing. "Can it will you--you think you're the only one who has lost someone? At least I don't go around sulking half drunk." screamed May at Morris. Then she quietly looked at him and said, "Oh crap, sorry about that, I just…"

Morris cut her off saying, "It's o.k., I probably deserved it. Since you are here I have a big favor to ask of you. My lab stuff is getting shipped here, apparently Devin doesn't give a damm about family members and other miscellaneous problems. It's going to be a month or two before it gets here though, so can you give Glitch to your little brother, he'll go crazy with hardly anything to do and when I need him back I'll just give you a call?"

May looked at him and asked, "Are you sure that isn't just the wine talking?"

"No" Morris replied, "I thought about it before I got drunk. I mean all that Max has is Yanma. He could use another Pokemon. Besides as I said it's no big deal."

May picked up Glitches Ultra Ball and said, "Thanks, I think."

Morris mumbled, "Don't mention it." It was quite apparent to May that his speech was becoming quite awkard. "One more thing about Ash" he mumbled, "Did that ahh satellite ahh phone work?"

May replied, "he did didn't say. I'll have to ask him in the morning."

"Alright" said Morris. "You better get back to bed--can you and my sister make sure to wake me up tomorrow so I can say good-by. If you can't do it by conventional means, just dump a bucket of ice water on me--I don't care." Morris then finally passed completely out.

May took one look at him and then Glitches Ultra Ball in her clawed hands and headed back to the front foyer where everyone was camping out in sleeping bags, thinking that had to be one of the more bizarre conversations she had ever had with anyone.

Scene change

Again we zoom across the world to find a private airport on the outskirts of Seattle. The CEO of American Stars and Leader of Team Tech Calvin Merit was growing impatient the person he was waiting for was suppose to have arrived 2 hours ago. Calvin mumbled to himself "Either the pilot I hired is totally incompetent or she took the down payment and ran. If either of those are the case someone is going to die."

He was snapped out of his thoughts when one of his body guards tapped him on the shoulder and said, "They are coming I can hear it."

Calvin looked at the guard--a well built Raichu hybrid whose ears were twitching. Suddenly Calvin began to hear what sounded like a aircraft engine. It grew louder and a single black jet slowly descended onto the runway. Calvin smiled. It was one of the newer corporate jobs, could fly across the Pacific and back without refueling, and could carry at least 4 passengers.

The jet door swung open, much like the old fashion type descending to the tarmac presenting 12 stairs. Out of the plane came two Team Tech body guards followed by a Umbreon hybrid wearing a uniform as black as her fur with a small red R over her heart. Her ears and tail were constantly twitching.

Calvin thought to himself--constantly alert--I like that. He then cleared his throat and said, "You are known by many names, but for simplicity sake I'll just call you by one. So Dominio, how was your flight?"

She replied, "Can't complain really. Your escort was surprisingly kind."

Calvin nodded and said, "Of course I insisted on the best for you. Besides, someone with your kind of talents shouldn't be dragged down Giovanni was Always a massive screw up. Why his mother left the organization to him, I haven't the slightest clue. Constantly spending too much of his time and effort on genetic research--not enough on the legitimate things that keep an organization going.

Before I forget, how is that coward doing anyway?"

Domino replied, "He made it out of the virus unscathed. Soon as he heard of it, he isolated himself for an entire month. Listen, I've heard of your reputation, how when your father died in spite of your young age you were able to take control and dispose of all who objected. The reason for my shift in allegiance is because of what you said Giovanni is indeed running Team Rocket improperly. He doesn't have intelligence or charisma as Madame Boss had. The whole Mew2 thing was proof of that. Billions of dollars to make the worlds most powerful psychic type, it escapes, we try to catch it, it wipes out all our memories with a massive amnesia attack. Of course our scientists were able to fix that after they put the pieces of what happened together, and now he seems to be obsessed with creating an all powerful dark type. It's just a rumor to some, but I know from my position that the project does exist."

Calvin shook his head. "Yes, mankind always seems to strive for power even when they don't understand the Pandora Box they are opening. Giovanni Is one of those fools who lusts for what he can't understand. I tend to think things completely and totally through, if I was your boss the project would never have been approved in the first place. It's getting quite chilly out, we should get going, we have much to discuss.

Note: Once again sorry for being gone for so long--it's going to be a while until the next installment.

Please read, review and recommend.

Next will come as soon as possible.

Rave Drifter.


	15. Chapter 15

Good news—I'm not dead!

Chapter 15

We now flash forward about 24 hours and find ourselves in the middle of Route 9. This is a somewhat hazardous area lined with narrow cliff roads and dense vegetation. Because of this and the rock tunnel not very many people choose to travel this route.

However we find our small group along one of the narrow ledge roads half way to Cerulean.

Max was looking at his pocket GPS System while Glitch was complaining, "Why the hell did I agree to go with you guys? I should have stayed back at the temple."

Max replied, "Do you really want to be without technology for a couple of months?"

Glitch said, "It's the principal of the thing, besides if Morris had to give me to someone, he could have at least given me to Ash or perhaps your sister wouldn't have even been so bad. I mean you've only be a trainer for what—a month."

May added, "Well that certainly isn't very nice of you Glitch. Besides, my little brother is a trouble magnet."

Glitch shook his head and said, "Well at least I'll get to see plenty of action."

Ash cut him off and said, "So exactly how far are we from Cerulean?"

Max replied, "According to current readout—7 probably 8 miles tops. We've covered a lot of ground."

Glitch said, "Actually, according to my software, the exact distance to city limits is 8.225 miles, and there is a 65 chance of rain. We should probably seek some sort of shelter for the night."

Everyone was not staring at Glitch and the Porygon 2 replied, "What! I've a GPS system too. I can also uplink to national weather services. How do you think Morris got around?"

Brock let out a low whistle and said, "That's impressive. You know I've been meaning to ask what other programs do you have? Out of curiosity of course."

Glitch said, "Let's see—GPS, Devon Computer Control and Manipulation System Version 15.25, Satellite Uplink Pokedax Version 7.71 Modified, and a Custom Calibrated Operating System to handle these features and my combat capabilities."

May said, "O.K. I think that is more than I probably wanted to know."

Ash added, "How the heck do you get that stuff? The GPS I can understand, but where did you get the rest of that stuff?"

"Well the Manipulation software was standard installed when I was first activated; of course back then it was a 14.50. Morris installed the Pokedax and as for the Custom Calibrated OS and the Satellite Uplink—I installed that myself. You'll be surprised what Devon leaves lying around." Explained Glitch.

Max summed up everyone's feelings in once simple word—Whoa!.

About ten minutes later, they managed to find an old abandoned bus shelter with enough room to lay out all four sleeping bags. It was simply a hut with faded peeling paint and screen windows with no glass. Just as Glitch predicted, it started to rain—a lot!

Brock was pressing buttons on a small crank radio and finally managed to find something with a decent signal—"Well folks it looks like we've got ourselves a massive rain storm. Tonight's forecast calls for at least 3 to 5 inches of rain heading South out of Nepal in Tibet which will be 12-18 inches of snow if you are on the North Shore of Cerulean Bay.

Temperatures are expected to hover about 55 all night long. Tomorrow no rain but overcast with temperatures expected to reach at least 60. As for the rest of the country the current rainy season remains one of the driest on record with overcast all across the map. Because of that the Northern half of the country is calling for temperatures not to break the 60 degree mark, however Cinnabar and the Sevii Islands to the South are having above average rainfall and expect 5-7 inches of rain with temperatures ranging from 65-80 depending on the storm system we have been tracking brushing the edges of Southeast Asia and the Orange Islands."

Ash stated, "Looks like it's not going to be a good night."

Max added, "I'm already on it. I'm tacking up the tent canvass over these screen windows. That should keep us somewhat dry. If we make good time tomorrow, we could probably reach Cerulean by late afternoon."

May sighed and said, "Well it's about time. I say we take a break once we get there. All day long we've been going non-stop—my furs practically a mess and to top it off I haven't seen once local species of Pokemon all day. As a matter of fact I haven't seen one since we started this trip."

Brock said, "I've been wondering about that too. Perhaps there aren't as many because of this dry rainy season. They probably all headed south towards the ocean shores or around Cerulean Bay."

"You are probably right—but still I wouldn't mind seeing at least one before we reach Cerulean" said May.

Out of curiosity Ash said, "Are you looking for some Pokemon in particular?"

May answer, "Actually, yes. Before we left Lavender, I overheard that a couple of interesting water types had been showing up around here, even though this not where they are usually located.

Brock replied, "Really, what kind?"

May answered, "From what I hear, some pretty cute ones, such as Poliwag! I really would love to have one of those."

Everyone just stared at her and Max said, "You know looks aren't everything."

Before another traditional sister-brother fight could break out Brock managed to calm them down. Soon everyone was asleep, bundled up tight in their sleeping bags due to the cold. All except for Ash, of course who was staring at the ceiling. Pikachu was curled up sleeping on his jacket vest in the corner. Ash finally managed to drift off to sleep thinking only one thought—I wonder how she is doing?

Authors note: Once again sorry for being gone so long. Illness prevented me from an earlier update. I'll try now to be more frequent.

Please read, review and recommend to your friends.

Rave Drifter


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

We join our group now on the very outskirts of Cerulean. The sky still gray from the storms last night. Everything was covered in fine dew.

Max quickly said, "Come on lets go! I can't wait!"

Of course he couldn't wait—quite a long ways back, they met up with Misty in the Mirage Kingdom and despite all his knowledge Max was least knowledgeable when it came to water types. So he couldn't wait to see the gym. For Ash it was like going to see an old friend he hadn't seen in quite a long time. It was puzzling, however, that the city was surprisingly quite and unscarred from the chaos that engulfed the world. There were surprisingly a high percentage of humans here, completely unaffected and going about their daily lives. They saw one or two hybrids, mostly water, normal, and grass types.

Brock said, "Is it just me or does this seem a little too quiet?"

Ash replied, "I know what you mean, usually Cerulean is jumping with life—probably the bad weather."

A voice said, "Yes that and our new gym."

Everyone turned to see an extremely beat up Flareon Hybrid clothed entirely in dark blue. Small white streaks in his fur represented scars either from green earth or paranoid locals.

Ash turned and said, "Who are you, and what do you mean new gym?"

The Flareon simply took out a cigarette from who knows where, pressed his two fingers to the tip and lit it himself and started to draw on the cig and replied, "Jeffrey is the name—as for your second question, the old gym got shut down. "

This got everyone's attention. Brock startled said, "Shut down—what do you mean, Misty would never shut down her gym?"

Jeffrey took another drag from the cigarette said, "Well it's true, about a week before the whole virus thing, the league came through here on one of its once every five year inspections, the gym was still under sisters name and since they weren't there and she was under legal age to run the gym, they shut the whole thing down. Surprised me that it didn't happen sooner."

Ash was still in very deep shock but he managed, "There is a legal age to running a gym?"

Brock replied, "Come to think of it, I haven't thought of that in a long time, but it's true. In some leagues you have to be 18 and in others 21. However the rule has hardly ever been enforced."

Jeffrey said, "Yes, well times are changing, even before the virus hit the league was plugging up most of its loop holes. Mostly in response to illegal gyms popping up in the middle of nowhere, badge forgery, and other miscellaneous stuff of that type."

May said, "Badge forgery—I thought those things were impossible to duplicate? Don't they all have like small microchips in them?"

Jeffrey took another drag and said, "Yes, well you know that's crime for you, as soon as you come up with another safety measure, give someone the cash and time and they will create a way around it."

Ash said, "Well do you know where Misty is now? And what is this about a new gym?"

Jeffrey answered, "Well no one has seen much of Misty lately, every since the old gym shut down I've been giving here room and board at the northern edge of the city. As for the new gym, really crazy leader—some dark type trainer that came over from the American league. Probably the most difficult to beat gym leader this region has had in years. Why are you so interested?"

Brook answered, "See we are friends with Misty, and we were passing through and were hopping we could see her."

Jeffrey said, "Well why didn't you just say so—follow me it's a bit of a walk."

As they began walking, Ash asked Jeffrey how he knew Misty.

Jeffrey took another deep drag and replied, "I run a small café that she and her sisters frequented. I know her pretty well. She's been very depressed lately."

Ash asked, "What do you mean?"

Before Jeffrey could reply, Brook cut him off and said, "What can you tell me about this new gym leader?"

Jeffrey answered, "Not much, as I mentioned before he is kind of crazy. Won the American League Championship twice—back to back if I recall correctly. I think his name was Scott Miller or something like that..."

Max suddenly said, "You're kidding right?"

Ash said, "Max you know this guy?"

Max replied, "Not personally I saw him on T.V. a couple of times. He's got to be the best dark type trainer in the Western Hemisphere. Probably the best in the world."

May said, "Wow! How come I've never heard of him if he's that good?"

Max said, "From the interview I saw on T.V. a while back, he is kind of a recluse. He was offered several times to join The American League Elite Four but turned it down each time. He did express interest in these regions because of their peace and quiet and the fact that he thought the leagues here were too easy on trainers. After that interview he just disappeared and that was about a year ago."

Jeffrey said, "Yes, that sound like him. Met him once—constantly putting down the local league for letting its quality go down hill in his opinion. He was especially hard on Misty. Makes me just want to punch him in the face. Oh look here we are."

The café was rather simple looking, two stories, and store on the bottom and a 2 bedroom apartment on the top with a huge sign out front that declared CAFÉ MEOWTH.

Jeffrey fiddled with a key and opened up the iron fence gate that led to external stairs that went up to the apartment. Finally at the front door Jeffrey opened it and said, "Hello—Are you home? Some friends of yours are here to see you."

A familiar voice replied, "Just a second" from behind a beaded curtain that separated the hallway and the kitchen/dining room. Out from behind the curtain came another Flareon Hybrid, the rings around her eyes looked like she hadn't slept in who knows how long, otherwise she looked absolutely stunning.

Ash simply stood there in complete and utter shock. "Misty is that really you?"

Authors note: Sorry for the delay, stuff came up—family related. If you need a more accurate description of the Café think of that weird bakery from FLCL. Next chapter I hope will be up sooner rather than later.

Please read, review, and recommend.

Rave Drifter


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It was very quiet at Jeffrey's apartment, most likely because it was extremely late at night. Dinner was o.k. mostly conversation, catching up on old times, but now we find Ash currently flipping through some old web pages on Jeffrey's beat up lap top which for some reason he kept in his junk drawer in his living room.

The net was an absolute mess, which was not surprising. What bothered him was that he could not find any reference to Scott Miller or any of his American League Championships. Ash kept typing away. He didn't want to admit it but during the dinner conversation, he noticed that Misty was quite miserable. Remembering what Jeffrey said about this guy insulting her he decided he might as well try to earn whatever badge he was offering and take him down a few levels. So far there was practically little to no information.

Ash murmured, "Come on—there has to be something. Alright, finally." Ash began to read the page, it was really buried in the article and all it had was basic information from the last time he had competed.

The information included: Age, place of birth, and the kind of Pokemon he used. He had a full roster of six and it listed Absol, Shiftry, Murkrow, Sneasel, Houndoom, and Umbreon. Other than that there was practically nothing else.

Ash thought to himself, not a bad team, Abosl and Umbreon are pure dark types, while the other four have secondary elements, grass, flying, ice and fire. Probably trained to an extremely high degree.

Ash then pulled a small book off a shelf and began reading.

The next morning, Brock was the first to wake up. Jeffrey's apartment was surprisingly quite, inside the kitchen he found Misty making breakfast.

Brock said, "Are you feeling better this morning?"

Misty sighed and replied, "Yes, it's just that everything you and Max told me last night—still can't believe that all this happened because of one crazy scientist. That and the gym getting shut down, and the fact I can probably never train water types again—I've been really out of it for quite a while. Anyway, how did Max, May and Ash adapt to all this?"

Brock said, "Well despite it all, they are pretty much o.k. The only complaint I heard was back when we were on the ship heading here. Ash was going crazy, a Jolteton's stiff hair is a pain to wash, but the reason he was gripping that one particular day was because the shower only had hard water, the fur got so stiff he couldn't sleep that night."

Misty instantly cracked up laughing, imagining Ash actually staying up an entire night and even had an evil mental image of his spiky fur getting stuck to the mattress.

She replied after calming down, "Well at least he can take a nice shower, I can only do it for about 5 minutes at a time before it starts to hurt. It's like your entire body is a mouth full of Listerine or something."

Before the conversation could continue they heard Jeffrey's voice yell, "What the hell—did somebody break in?"

Brock and Misty rushed out of the kitchen into Jeffrey's small living room. Max and May were already there helping him tidy up what looked like tornado damage.

Jeffrey looked at Misty and said, "Last time I let one of your friends sleep in the living room, that Ash guy literally trashed the place, and I can't even find him, it's like he disappeared or something."

Misty scratched behind one of her oversized Flareon ears and said, "He's not usually like this."

Max replied, "Well I got up in the middle of the night and I saw him hunkering over some books, and Pikachu was fast asleep next to him on the couch."

Brock said, "Uhmm that's odd, Ash did look a little out of it during dinner, especially when you talked to him Misty."

May add, "Probably because he hadn't seen her in a long time and the fact that she is now a hybrid. That's bound to do something."

Jeffrey suddenly chimed in and said, "What a second, what exactly did we talk about at dinner again?"

Misty replied, "Mostly how we were all doing, that jerk Miller, and pretty much miscellaneous random stuff. Oh and there were some things about that crazy Dr. Bailey too. Why?"

Jeffrey held up a small book he found on the couch that said A Pocket Fact File: Dark Types, and said, "I think I have a pretty good idea where he is."

At roughly the same time across town; Ash wandered into the Dark Type Gym. It was built into the ground. From the outside it looked like a giant hill of grass with a double door into its side and a few scattered sky lights. The interior was done in kind of a 1930's art deco style. The lights were dimmed in the interior giving the whole place the look that it was bathed in eternal twilight.

Ask took one look at Pikachu and said, "Well here we are and it's kind of creepy."

Pikachu just squeaked in agreement.

The front desk was deserted with just a button and a sign that read—Please Buzz for Service. Ash tapped the button and heard a very loud buzzing sound, much like a Beedrill Swarm. Roughly around a second later out of a side room came a Marill Hybrid wearing a blue dragon print tee shirt and some jeans that looked like they had an accident with a bucket of acid. He took one look at Ash and said, "You here for a battle?"

Ash replied, "Yep, I heard I could find a real challenge here."

The Marill hybrid picked up a phone and said, "Hey boss, you got another victim out here." He listened for a moment and then hung up the phone. "Go through the door on the left, it will lead you down to the gym floor. The one on the right goes to the observation balcony."

About a minute later Ash was on the gym floor after going down a flight of stairs. Just like the rest of the building it was in the art deco style with dim lighting. The observation deck was right above the gym floor and separating the deck from the rest of the gym was a chain link wall. It looked like a fence except it was attached to the ceiling, walls and floor, keeping the balcony secure.

Something tapped Ash on the shoulder and he and Pikachu spun around to see an ordinary human with extremely tussled black hair, gray urban camouflage pants, a gray tee shirt and a pair of combat boots. Standing right next to him was an Absol, its bright red eyes starring off into space.

Ash said, "Are you Scott Miller by any chance?"

The man replied, "Yes, that's me alright. So you want an eclipse badge?"

Ash said, "Sure, but I have a question. Why the hell are you such a jerk?"

Scott took a step back and said, "Now where the hell did you hear that?"

Ash answered, "Misty told me, she said you were a complete and total ass with absolutely no care for other people's feelings."

Scott simply said, "Oh for a minute there I thought you hear that from someone else. Besides, out of all the half asses gym leaders I've seen here before I arrived she was probably the worst. I will admit she is a good trainer and has potential, but as the league says she is too young and besides she can't be that good of a gym leader because if what I heard is true, instead of using force and her Pokemon to keep those mall rat sisters of her in check she just let them leave on some global tour or something. If you can't keep even your own family in check, how are you supposed to be a trainer—now I ask you that?"

Scott got a rude surprise as Ash gave him a swift kick in the gut causing him to stagger back a few steps.

Ash said, "For your information, I'm a good friend of Misty and she was a great gym leader. If I win not only do I get your Eclipse badge, but I want you to apologize to her and anyone else you have so rudely offended."

Picachu squeaked in agreement.

Scotts Absol snapped out of its dazed like look and began to tense up—like it was ready to rip limb from limb or at least issue a serious beat down.

Scott simply replied rubbing his stomach, "Well if your Pokemon fight as good as you and you win—I will apologize, but that's bloodly unlikely. This will be three on three. No time limit, we are both allowed substitutions, and custom unauthorized attacks are allowed. Agree?"

Ash said, "Sure—Let's Go!"

Please read, review, and recommend.

Next: Master of the Shadows

Rave Drifter


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Scott stared down at Ash and said, "You go first."

Ash thought for a quick second and threw out a great ball. "Go! Sceptile!"

Sceptile appeared on the floor and as usual put a go size twig in its mouth mimicking a cigarette.

Scott replied, "Never fought one of those before, this should be interesting. Let's see whose grass type is better. I choose Shiftry."

Ash quickly scanned Shiftry—Level 60.

Ash said, "Let's go Sceptile double team."

Suddenly Shiftry was surrounded by a dozen images of Sceptile.

Scott replied, "Your Sceptile may be faster, but me and Shiftry are smarter. Shiftry spin full 360 while using bullet seed."

Shiftry spun like a top bombarding all images with a steady stream of bullet seed. When the last after image was gone, Scott took one look and said, "What—where did Sceptile go?"

Ash yelled, "Leaf blade!"

Scott looked up and down from the rafters came Sceptile the leaves on his arms glowing bright.

Scott yelled, "Use your leaf blade to block the attack."

Shiftry's leaves glowed bright as it's and Sceptiles collided—sparks flying like two swordsmen caught in a stalemate.

Scott yelled, "Shadow ball now."

Shiftry quickly in one of its leafy hands formed a ball of dark energy and shoved it directly into Sceptile's gut causing it to slide back across the arena floor several feet.

Before Ash or Scott could react Sceptile began to glow bright green and shoved both its claws into the ground. A wave green energy zigzagged across the ground towards Shiftry and then erupted. Vine like pillars of energy engulfed and smashed Shiftry like derbies from a tornado hitting a house. When the smoke cleared Shiftry was out like a light and Sceptile was just standing there looking winded but as cocky as usual.

The Marill hybrid that Ash met earlier who was referring the match said, "Shiftry is unable to battle, round one goes to the challenger and Sceptile."

Ash said, "Great job Sceptile, but what was that you just used?"

Scott smiled and said, "That was frenzy plant, the most powerful grass type attack in existence. Very few grass types are capable of using it, for it drains tons of energy."

Ash couldn't believe it, if what Scott said was correct, Sceptile out of the blue just learned how to do an extremely devastating attack without any special training.

Ash said, "Sceptile that was absolutely amazing."

Sceptile just smiled, but then just as quickly passed out.

The Marill hybrid said, "Sceptile is unable to battle." The hybrid thought for a moment and said, "Hey Scott how am I supposed to call this?"

Scott thought for a moment and said, "Well consider I didn't officially call out my next Pokemon, I'm going to say this one came out in a draw."

The Marill hybrid said, "Wait didn't the Sceptile go down after Shiftry?"

Scott said "Yes, but your forgetting that technically a new round doesn't begin until one calls out a new Pokemon, so in a round about way it was a double KO."

Ash thought for a moment and said, "O.K. then round two."

He recalled his passed out Sceptile and said, "Go Carwdaunt!"

Scott took a step back and said, "Damm I've been meaning to catch myself one of those. I can tell it's a pretty well raised dark type."

Scott took out a great ball from his belt and said, "Let's see how you like it on ice. Go Sneasel."

Sneasel took the field and Ash quickly yelled, "Cawdaunt take it out quickly—use crab hammer."

Cawdaunt quickly charged down Sneasel with one of its claws glowing bright.

Scott yelled, "Dodge—and freeze the floor."

Sneasel jumped out of the way of Cawdaunt's crab hammer and fired an ice beam attack directly at the floor. The entire arena became coated with a very thin layer of ice and now Cawdaunt was flying toward the wall at an extremely high speed unable to stop.

Scott smiled and said, "Looks like your Cawdaunt is going to find out what a crash dummy feels like."

Ash said, "Quickly crab hammer the wall and change direction."

Cawdaunt did and as soon as he did he went flying across the ice—now in the opposite direction. That's when Ash suddenly had one of his crazy ideas.

"Cawdaunt crab hammers Sneasel-- use it again to change direction."

Cawdaunt got the ideal quickly. Soon he was bouncing off the walls using the ice to increase the speed and power of each attack. The ice was almost melted and finally Cawdaunt bounced off the wall one final time into the air since there was hardly any ice left and with a super powerful crab hammer he knocked Sneasel clear across the room and into the wall.

The referee took one look at Sneasel and said, "Sneasel is unable to battle, the round goes to the challenger and his Cawdaunt."

Scott just stood there in disbelief and muttered, "How in the bloody hell!" He then said "Well that sure didn't come out like I planned it." He recalled Sneasel and said, "You're so much better than I originally thought. That's it I'm now going for overkill."

He then gave his Absol a pat on the head and said, "You're up old friend."

Absol leaped on the field and the Marill replied, "Third Round: Go!!"

Ash yelled, "Let's take care of this quickly! Cawdaunt use hydro pump."

Scott thought to himself that sure won't work. He then yelled, "Sky waltz."

Ash took a step back and muttered "What the?"

Absol took a massive leap into the air, his head blade glowing fiercely. It then much to Ash's surprise did three mid air somersaults each one emitting a massive wave of energy from its head blade.

Before Ash could react Cawdaunt took all three of the hits and Cawdaunt was now lying on the ground eyes completely x'd out as well as several deep cracks in the gym floor where moments before Cawdaunt stood.

The referee yelled, "Cawdaunt is unable to battle, the round goes to Scott and Absol."

Scott smiled and said, "Like that—a little something me and Absol whipped up in our spare time. Of course we've had a lot of it as he was my first Pokemon. Back where I'm from people are just as suspicious of dark types as they are here. I was about to pick up my first when I sent around back the Vets office. Doc told me he got a rare egg in the mail and it had just hatched into an Absol. He wanted me to help him kill it. I don't know what happened exactly, but something in Absol's eyes just spoke to me, so I offered to take it as my first instead of one of the usual American League starters. That Vet thought I was crazy saying that that thing would have me dead within a week. But look where I am now 12 years later."

Scott then brushed himself off and said, "Your down to your last Pokemon, you better make it count."

Ash took one look at Absol and scanned it—it was about a level 80. Ash thought not surprising if it is his first. Looks like he'd have to do the same as well.

Ash then said, "I'm not through yet! I'll use my first Pokemon as well. Pikachu lets go!"

Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and began to spark.

Scott scanned it much the same way Ash had scanned Absol. Pikachu was level 70. Scott thought to himself, that's got to be the most powerful Pikachu he'd ever seen. Probably wasn't evolved with a thunder stone so it could keep its extremely high speed.

Suddenly a voice yelled out; "Ash wait!"

Scott and Ash and the referees eyes quickly darted up to the balcony where May, Max, Brook and Misty were now standing having just entered moments before.

Ash yelled, "What's up? Just one more and I win."

Misty said, "That can't be right—hardly ever anyone gets Scott down to his last Pokemon."

Ash said, "Well there is a first time for everything."

Scott smiled and said, "I have to hand it to you, your only like the 20th person to get this far. If you and that Pikachu are as good as you are up till this point—you just might be the 9th person every to receive an eclipse badge from me."

Ash smiled and said, "Ready?"

Scott smiled and said, "Let's have some fun!"

Please read, review and recommend.

Next: Clash of Power: Absol versus Pikachu.

Rave Drifter


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Scott yelled, "Absol—double team! Shadow Ball lay down a barrage!"

Ash quickly yelled, "Light Screen!"

Pikachu quickly surrounded himself with a barrier of light and managed to deter the barrage.

Ash then yelled, "Double team flash—Iron Tail."

This got everyone's attention.

Scott took a step back and exclaimed, "What?"

Pikachu then quickly began circling Absol with Double Teams after images. There was a bright flash of light and then the sound of what seemed to be an impact. When the lights died down, Absol was still standing but with a massive bruise across his body and Pikachu looked pretty winded but still raring to go.

Misty who was up on the observation balcony exclaimed, "What the hell was that?"

Brock added, "Remarkable, Ash combined Double Team and Flash to eliminate any chance of Absol being able to counter Iron Tail."

Misty said, "But how did he"—suddenly it all clicked into place for her. The Dark Type field guides lying around Jeffrey's apartment, Ash up reading until who knew when—as much as it contradicted everything she knew about him, Ash actually seemed to have planned for a match for once.

Scott said, "Here's another original: Absol—Shadow Storm."

Absol glowed with what seemed like a huge surge of dark power and then released in every direction a single wave of dark energy that like a tsunami continued to get bigger and bigger.

Ash yelled, "What the hell!"

Scott replied, "Its Absol's ultimate attack. Takes a second to charge like solar and hyper beam, but it is guaranteed to hit any grounded opponents with massive force. So unless your Pikachu can sprout wings and fly you are screwed."

Just as the wave was about to hit Ash yelled, "Light Screen!"

Pikachu managed to but in place the barrier just as the wave impacted. The resulting blast engulfed the entire arena in a cloud of smoke. All of Ash's friends in the observation balcony were speechless.

Max broke the silence and said, "There is absolutely no way light screen could hold up to something like that."

Misty added, "I know. I heard Scott only uses that attack on his most powerful opponents."

Suddenly there was what sounded like a power transformer overloading. The smoke cleared and when everyone looked down hey almost fainted. Pikachu was still standing. Scott and his Absol were literally stunned by this. Even Ash was wondering how he succeeded.

Suddenly Pikachu jumped forward with an insane amount of speed engulfed in pure electric energy.

Scott quickly yelled the first move that came into his mind, "Destiny Bond!"

Pikachu collided with Absol and there was a bright flash of a light and when it dimmed both were on the ground completely unconscious.

The Marill hybrid who was refereeing the match, yelled, "Both the gym leader and the challengers Pokemon are unable to battle. The gym match is a complete draw!"

Scott placed his hand on his Absol's head and said, "Are you alright?"

Absol just cracked open one of his eyes and managed a small smile.

Scott reacted by saying, "Good!"

He then took an ultra ball from his belt and recalled Absol, then walked over to Ash who had Pickachu in his arms. For some reason Pickachu was now conscious but badly banged up.

Scott smiled and said, "This was the first time I've ever battled to a draw."

Ash answered, "Happened to me once or twice, but the first time with a gym leader."

Scott looked at Pickachu who was now resting in Ash's arms and said, "I have to admit you've got yourself one powerful well trained Pokemon. Hell, I bet you'd be able to get to at least the semi-finals of the American league with that kind of power."

Ash replied, "Thank you, but I should really get Pickachu to the Pokemon center."

Ash started walking to the door when Scott yelled, "Wait a second."

Ash turned around and Scott said, "Catch."

Ash caught what Scott threw at him. It was a circular shaped badge that was entirely black with edging in white on the left.

Scott said, "I know the whole damm thing was a draw, but trust me, if anyone deserves an eclipse badge from me it's you."

Ash took a look at the badge and placed it in his vest pocket. "Thanks" was his only reply.

Scott watched as Ash walked up the stairs and out the gym door and thought to himself, maybe I was wrong about there not being any good trainers in this part of the world. That kid, in a few more years he could probably give the elite 4 a run for their money.

Scott then yelled up to Ash's friends remaining on the balcony, "You have a very good friend there; if you hurry you can catch up to him."

Scott then started to leave the arena but just before he excited, he said, "Oh, and before I forget, Misty, improve your skills and maybe in a year or so, challenge me for the title of gym leader, I'll definitely look forward to that."

Authors Note: Merry Christmas. My muse has been bugging me with an idea for another story for a while—so this will be on hiatus for a while, while I work on it. I will continue this in due time, since I can't stand things unfinished.

Please read, review, and recommend.

See you next Year!

Rave Drifter


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 19

Three days later we joined Ash and the group at the base of Mt. Moon, mist hanging low to the ground.

Max asked, "So this is where all those Clefairy live?"

Mae said, "Why the hell would something so cute live in such a cold, damp place like this?"

Glitch replied, "Well according to the National Weather Service, a massive blast of arctic air is coming over the Himalayas and into the region. Winter is coming extremely fast."

Misty who decided to accompany them added, "I knew the warm spell was too good to last."

Glitch interrupted saying, "Yeah, this area is suppose to get like five feet of snow tonight. As a matter of fact, nearly all of Northern Kanto is going to get it."

Brock said, "If that's the case we should probably find a small cave and get a fire going. Break out the cold weather gear too. We'll take shelter for the night then use fire pokemon to melt our way out in the morning. Probably need him to keep us warm and clear a path."

Ash nodded and said, "Good idea—it's been a while but I think the caves are just ahead."

As the group trigged onward they failed to notice that someone was watching just out of their vision. Eyes that glowed like some sort of monster.

Eventually the group found a small cave. Mae and Misty got to work using the tent canvas to seal off the entrance. Ash got Torklal to start a fire and Brock started preparing dinner. Max was fiddleling with the crank radio—bzzzzzzzIT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT AND I FEEL FINEbzzzzzzzzz.I DON'T WANT TO SET THE WORLD ON FIREbzzzzzzzCYBER COLA IT'S STRANGELY ADDICTIVEbzzzzz.

Max put down the radio and said, "I can't seem to find a good signal. Signals get all statically after a few seconds."

Brock said, "Must be a combination of the cave and the bad weather."

Suddenly there was a crunching sound and just as suddenly it stopped. Then without warning the canvas sealing off the cave was literally split down the middle revealing outside a complete and total white-out. Right there, standing in the snow was the strangest hybrid they had ever encountered. It had blue, black and yellow fur with a tail that ended with what resembled a ninja throwing star. Flanking him on either side was a pair of Espeon hybrids.

The strange one said, "Well lookie here we've got ourselves some travelers. Just what we needed, we've been running low on stuff."

Ash studied them noticing that they were dressed in all black with a small read R patch on their sleeves. Pikachu started throwing off sparks and Ash yelled, "Team Rocket—What the Hell!!"

The two Espeon hybrids laughed and the strange one said, "Guess again, after the virus screwed everything up the organization started going to shit. So me and my colleagues decided to go freelance. Should get some black material to sew over the R's though."

Misty looked and him and said, "Wait, if you are not part of Team Rocket why the hell are you bothering us?"

"Oh, that's easy; government is so busy maintaining order in all the major port cities that these rural routes are practically ignored, especially here in the Northern part of the country. Let's see guys shall we do the usual drill? Swipe all their stuff and kill the males?"

One of the Espeon hybrids said, "You want us to wipe out the girls memories so we can sell them?"

The Strange One said, "Of course you moron, plenty of over religious backwater places still pay a lot for mindless female slaves. I don't know how a psychic like you can be so stupid."

Suddenly a massive jolt of electricity burst forth and the two Espeon hybrids were on the ground.

The Strange One was still standing and Ash yelled, "What the hell, that was a full on Zap Cannon!"

Even Pikachu was shocked!

The Strange One chuckled and said, "Check entry 405."

Ash pulled out his Pokedex and entered the number and an entry popped up. LUXRAY: The Electric Wolf pokeman. Native to Sinnoh it has eyes that can spot prey in any condition. Some examples are able to see through thin walls.

As if it was an invitation, as soon as the entry was finished, the now identify Luxray Hybrid got slammed by Brock's Forretress.

Ash quickly getting the idea, called Scepeile and yelled," Frenzy Plant!"

Once again, beams of energy like vines lashed out of the ground and the Luxray hybrid was completely blown out of the cave. He got up and yelled, "Screw this—I'm gone!"

He then grabbed his two psychic cohorts, swung them over his shoulder and ran off deep into the drifts and white-out.

Brock said, "Ash are you o.k.?"

Ash recalling Sepeile replied, "Yeah, everything is getting worse by the minute."

Misty added, "If members of team Rocket are going rogue, they must be falling apart."

Brock added, "Either that or something else we know nothing about is going on."

Max said, "We should get some sleep and get out of here at first light. They might come back."

May said, "O.K. but how do we keep the snow out? That guy slashed the make-shift door wide open."

Misty said, "We will sleep in shifts, the fire Pokemon will do the same, we will take turns keeping everyone else warm."

Ash nodded and said, "I'll take first shift with ."

And with that everyone else settled in to a rough slumber.

Authors note: After three years I'm back. When I say I'll finish something I mean it. I'll try to crank out at least 1 or if I'm lucky 2 chapters a month to finish this since I've been ignoring it way to long.

Quick run down for those new: Characters and what they are hybrids of:

Ash: Jolteon

May: Delcatty

Max: Mightyena

Misty: Flareon

And Brock is still human FYI.

Please read and review.

Next: Forest of Illusion

Rave Drifter


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